PSBank to offer medium-term notes worth P10B

The Metrobank group’s thrift bank arm Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) has joined a growing number of local banks going to the local debt market to diversify their funding base.

PSBank has obtained approval from its board to issue medium-term fixed and/or floating rate notes (MFNs) of up to P10 billion.

“The MFN issuance will give PSBank an opportunity to access medium-term and stable funding as the bank further expands its consumer banking business,” PSBank said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday.

The disclosure read the final terms, including the offering period and interest rate, would depend on market conditions.

“Our medium term notes will be [repaid in] 15 to 36 months,” PSBank senior vice president and chief finance officer Perfecto Ramon Zavalla Dimayuga Jr. said in a text message.

Last month, PSBank also raised P5.08 billion from an offering of high-yielding deposit papers. The long-term negotiable certificates of time deposits, which carried a tenor of five years and six months, were priced to yield 5 percent a year to be paid on a quarterly basis.

The bank grew its net profit in the first semester by 14.7 percent year-on-year to P1.35 billion on higher earnings from lending and fee-based businesses.

Net interest income in the first six months improved by 8.8 percent year-on-year to P5.85 billion as the bank expanded its loan book by 10.7 percent year-on-year to P151.62 billion.

The six-month performance translated to a return on equity of 11.83 percent.

Total resources expanded by 7.4 percent year-on-year to P234.76 billion as of end-June.

PSBank currently has 250 branches and over 600 automated teller machines nationwide. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA