Robinsons Bank Corp. (RBC) President and CEO Elfren Antonio S. Sarte said all its bank branches will no longer be existent come fourth quarter of 2025 as it will be fully rebranded as Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), more than a year after the two banks merged.
“By October, all Robinsons Bank branches will be branded as BPI. So you won’t see any of Robinsons [Bank] branches by October,” Sarte told reporters on the sidelines of a media night hosted by the Ayala Group last week.
“Now, you can still see Robinsons Bank branches. We intend to complete that within the year,” Sarte said, noting that the integration will be carried out in three tranches this year: April, July, and October.
Sarte noted that the October phase is the biggest tranche, adding that this phased integration is “really more managing the transition. We’re either consolidating or transferring.”
“There will be some that will be transferring to a BPI site, consolidate, or there will be some who will be using the Robinsons Bank site to host a BPI. So it's more trying to rationalize which will be good for the customers of both banks,” he explained.
Last year, both banks undertook a minor integration of some branches, transferring fewer than 10 from RBC. Approximately 150 remaining branches are still awaiting conversion.
“The first thing we did was with ATMs—if you’re a BPI customer using a Robinsons Bank ATM, there’s no fee, and vice versa. We absorbed the charges to benefit customers from both banks,” Sarte stressed.
“This allows free ATM transactions across networks, even though they are technically separate. However, the full system integration is still ongoing, with BPI’s system being adopted as the main platform,” he further said.
Prior to the merger, Sarte reported that RBC, including its subsidiary Legazpi Savings Bank (now owned by BPI), had a total of about 180 branches.
According to Sarte, RBC’s contribution to BPI’s loan income remains minimal, accounting for about six percent of BPI’s total assets and income.
Following the merger, ₱180 billion in assets were transferred to BPI, a relatively small addition given the bank’s overall scale.
“There will be some minor things, but from a customer perspective, that’s, I think, the big one to convert the branch and bring everything into one system. So at that point, I guess we’re almost 99 percent already,” Sarte said.
RBC has officially merged into BPI as of Jan. 1, 2024, with all operations now under BPI’s management.