Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) is investing more capital to become the country’s top bank in the digital and sustainable finance space in 2023 and beyond. “This current year will be a little more challenging as we need to ride through the global economic issues of inflation and higher interest rates. But despite these circumstances, there are signs that our country will do well, supported by a confident, digitally-oriented population,” said BPI President and CEO Jose Teodoro K. Limcaoco during its annual stockholders’ meeting (ASM) on Thursday, April 27. The bank usually spends about P10 billion a year for its IT, technology, cybersecurity and digitalization investments. Limcaoco reiterated the bank’s focus on digitalization and sustainability but said that BPI will not just be a player in these segments but will maintain its leadership and to surpass all other banks when it comes to digital products. In transforming into a more digitally-oriented bank, Limcaoco said “we’ve accelerated our efforts and plan ahead in the transition to a more digitally oriented markets. “This year we will introduce new digital platforms that affirm the bank’s commitment to provide smart, convenient and secure financial solutions that meet the evolving needs and wants of our customers,” he said. BPI earlier this month launched its new artificial intelligence-empowered BPI Mobile App. “BPI is the first bank app to feature AI-powered tracking and insights,” said Limcaoco. BPI is also launching its BPI Trade App soon for retail investors for their capital market investments. In the first quarter this year, Limcaoco said the bank introduced BPI Bizco, a subscription-based platform for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) created to offer an integrated online system for invoicing, collection and to help in their cash flow. BPI’s digital expansion also includes Vybe, a one-stop lifestyle and payment app, which is also available for non-BPI clients starting this year and will soon allow users to send and receive money from other banks via InstaPay. Limcaoco also said the new BPI agency banking, which he said is one of their technology-enabled innovations, will “change the way BPI engages customers” through the use of new channels. “We are setting up a network of partners (such as) department stores, supermarkets, convenient stores, gas stations, and online partners to make BPI products and services more accessible (and allow partners) to act like a branch,” he said. Limcaoco said BPI has been reorganized to have more focus on the small and medium enterprises (SME) segment such as offering standardized products. To do this better, they continue to increase investments in the IT and digital side. The bank also continues to reduce branches and currently operates 752 from over a thousand pre-pandemic. Meanwhile, BPI board chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala is confident BPI’s industry leader status in digital banking will grow overtime. BPI did not apply for a specific digital banking license from the central bank, but it said that it has become a top digital bank nonetheless as a big bank operating both in the traditional and digital arena. Zobel de Ayala said the merger with the Gokongwei group’s Robinsons Bank Corp. with BPI as surviving entity, will expand its reach and portfolio. Robinsons Bank has a digital bank unit, GoTyme. The merger, first announced last October 2022, is still awaiting approval from regulators such as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. “(We) expect to close this by January 2024,” he said. As of end-2022, BPI has onboarded 150,000 new bank clients from its digital bank operations. There were also 500,000 clients through GCash and 274,000 clients that are self-employed SMEs with loans amounting to P36.6 billion. Under BPI business banking, currently it has 132,000 SME clients. And on sustainable finance, the bank has released P252.3 billion to finance 398 projects. About 51 percent of bank portfolio are corporate and SMEs. During its ASM which was open to the media, BPI officials led by Zobel de Ayala and 14 other newly-elected board directors, affirmed the bank’s aim of onboarding 50 million clients within the decade, to continue streamlining and consolidation of its branches and expansion of its digital channels to serve more Filipinos in the next five years. At the moment, BPI has about nine million clients close to four million unique active users of its online and mobile apps. Joining BPI’s board for the first are former socioeconomic planning chief Karl Kendrich T. Chua and former Sunlife Financial president and CEO Rizalina C. Mantaring. Aside from Zobel de Ayala, the other directors include: former finance secretary  Cesar V. Purisima; former finance undersecretary Romeo L. Bernardo; former Monetary Board and press secretary Ignacio R. Bunye; and ex BPI presidents and CEOs Cezar P. Consing and Aurelio R. Montinola III. Also elected are former UP School of Economics dean Emmanuel S. de Dios, Janet Guat Har Ang, Rene G. Banez, Octavio Victor R. Espiritu, Jaime Z. Urquijo, Maria Dolores B. Yuviengco, and Limcaoco. As of the first quarter this year, the bank earned P12.1 billion, an increase of 52 percent year-on-year. In 2022, it posted a record net income of P39.6 billion, up 65.8 percent.