BIZ BUZZ: AUB takes the yuan lead

The introduction of the spot market for foreign exchange trades between the Philippine peso and the Chinese renminbi during the previous administration had many doubters and, to a large degree, it still does to this day.

But at least one financial institution decided to forge ahead and build a thriving business based on it despite these doubts. Or maybe because of it, since other players remain cool to the idea.

We’re talking about Asia United Bank (AUB) whose leadership recently decided to further increase its foreign exchange trading of the renminbi, a currency that is gaining market share in international payments and cross-border transactions.

“We assure you that we can sustain, and probably even improve on the nearly 300-percent year-on-year growth on clearing volumes and 70-percent growth in forex trading volume in the coming years,” AUB treasury head Antonio “Peanuts” Agcaoili Jr. said. (And yes, that’s really his nickname.)

“We have no plans of relinquishing our rank as the top bank in these categories and hopefully garner all three awards in the not-too-distant future,” he said, after AUB received two awards from the local renminbi trading group.

He made these remarks after accepting, on behalf of AUB the “Top RMB Clearing Volume Award” and “Top RMBPHP Trading Volume Award” given by the Philippine RMB Trading Community set up by 13 member banks in 2018.

“When [this] community was launched in 2018, we made a conscious decision to take an aggressive competitive stance on this initiative, unaware of the potential benefits it would provide,” Agcaoili said. “We consider this feat a culmination of our efforts to dominate the industry in this segment of the market.”

From 2021 to 2022, AUB was able to grow its renminbi clearing transaction count by 134 percent while volume increased by 295 percent. For renminbi forex, the transaction count increased by 32 percent while volume jumped by 67 percent during the period.

Not bad figures considering the overhang that the West Philippine Sea tensions have brought to bilateral relations. The question now is… can AUB sustain its lead as earlier doubters take a second look at the market? Abangan! —Daxim L. Lucas

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