BSP okays BPI’s unloading of GoTyme shares

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) gives the go signal for the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) to sell its 15-percent stake in Gokongwei-backed GoTyme Bank for P902.47 million.. (File photo / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) was given the go signal by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to sell its 15-percent stake in Gokongwei-backed GoTyme Bank for P902.47 million.

In a disclosure on Thursday, the Zobel family-led company said it had received the notice of approval on Oct. 9.

The transaction involved the sale of 752.06 million shares for P1.20 apiece to GoTyme Financial Pte Ltd. And Giga Investments Holdings Inc.

“The sale is intended to address any potential conflict of interest created by the significant overlap in and similarly of product offerings of GoTyme Bank and BPI,” the listed bank explained.

GoTyme Bank is a joint venture of Tyme Investments Pte. Ltd., JG Summit Group, and Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc.

BPI acquired its GoTyme Bank shares when it absorbed the Gokongwei group’s Robinsons Bank Corp. this year via a P32-billion merger deal.

GoTyme is one of the entities issued a BSP digital banking license.

The neo bank currently has 3.7 million customers, which is expected to grow to 5 million by the end of year.

GoTyme launched earlier this year its automated teller machine (ATM) services in the country, making it the first digital bank to introduce this. It teamed up with American payment services company Euronext Technology Services Inc. for the financial service.

The Ayala-led bank, meanwhile, saw its net income grow by 21.5 percent to P30.6 billion in the first half as revenues jumped by 23.8 percent to P81.2 billion.

Assets stood at P3.1 trillion as of end-June.