BDO Unibank, already the Philippines’ largest lender, with total assets of 1.86 trillion pesos ($39.3 billion), has big plans — some of which include a new Japanese partner.
The bank is part of the SM Group, which mainly operates a range of retail businesses and has piggybacked the Philippines’ economic growth to steady revenue gains. The lender is now aiming to explore new business areas at home and abroad through a joint venture with leading Japanese brokerage Nomura Holdings as well as partnerships with Japanese regional lenders.
BDO Unibank Chairwoman Teresita Sy-Cosop
BDO Unibank has been expanding its business scale through a series of acquisitions since 1976. As a result, it now has more than 900 branches throughout the Philippines. Moreover, the lender in recent years has taken various measures to improve the quality of its services; it has extended its opening time by two hours, to 5 p.m., and has used blue as the base color at all its branches in an attempt to create a clean, fresh image.
The efforts have been led by BDO Unibank Chairwoman Teresita Sy-Coson, the eldest daughter of SM Group founder Henry Sy. Sy-Coson’s business acumen has won the admiration of Tadashi Yanai, chairman and president of Fast Retailing, the Japanese holding company that operates the Uniqlo chain of casual clothing stores. Yanai praised her in one of his books, and Fast Retailing has formed a joint venture with SM Retail, an SM Group company.
Sy-Coson is eyeing more Japan-Philippine business transactions. BDO Unibank has forged partnerships with a number of Japanese regional lenders, including Joyo Bank, based in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture. In addition, the Philippine bank is set to open a money remittance center in Tokyo in December.
As the Philippine economy has been growing, more Filipinos have begun to open securities trading accounts. The trend has Sy-Coson anticipating a future in which more pesos in circulation further boost the country’s economic growth.
In June, BDO Unibank and Nomura agreed to set up a joint stock-trading venture in which the Philippine lender has a 51% stake and the Japanese securities house holds the remaining 49%.
BDO Unibank says it manages around 7 million bank accounts. What’s more, the SM Group operates large shopping malls across the country that can attract tens of thousands of visitors a day. As such, the bank is well-positioned to raise the new brokerage’s profile through ads and other platforms.
Sy-Coson expects synergies from BDO Unibank’s countrywide network and Nomura’s investment banking expertise. “In the future, we hope to offer our clients more services, to include cross-border investments,” she said. “This will provide a wider choice of opportunities to investors, particularly in the context of Asean integration.”