In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, RCBC said its board of directors approved the purchase of additional shares in Shell.
Shell has maintained its number two position in the domestic oil market, given the company’s established refinery, storage and distribution facilities as well as its expansive retail sales network.
Shell has a refining capacity of about 155,000 barrels per stream day and a chain of over 1,000 sales stations nationwide.
Aside from this, the RCBC board approved a P250-million additional equity infusion in its investment house subsidiary RCBC Capital Corp. It also approved a staggered acquisition of the remaining outstanding 42,602 shares of RCBC Capital, making it a 100 percent wholly-owned subsidiary of RCBC, subject to approval by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
As a universal bank, RCBC has equity investments in selected and highly viable industries which are vital to the country’s economic growth and which also serve the purpose of diversifying the bank’s sources of income. Among these are Honda Cars Philippines Inc., Isuzu Philippines Corp., Nippon Life Insurance Co. Subic Power Corp., and Luisita Industrial Park Corp.
RCBC earlier said it would continue with its loan portfolio rationalization program aimed at improving credit quality, reducing risk and attaining a more profitable and stable mix through a more diversified portfolio.
The bank continues to employ credit recovery efforts through loan restructuring and workout, as well as other asset-based recovery modes.
It also carries on with its efforts in disposing non-performing assets. In particular, the bank is evaluating opportunities provided by the special purpose vehicle law in resolving the issue of non-performing assets. RCBC also continues to adequately cover for possible losses arising from non-performing loans and assets by building up more provisions.
RCBC’s Internet banking solution is being actively marketed to address the needs of its corporate as well as retail clients. Outsourcing of non-banking functions will also be a key initiative in the coming years.
RCBC is one of the largest universal banks with total resources of P179.2 billion and total networth of P15.5 billion as of end-December 2002. In terms of number of branches, RCBC, together with its wholly-owned subsidiary RCBC Savings Bank, ranked sixth with a countrywide total of 291 branches, inclusive of five extension offices as of 2002.