What do you think of the BPI-Far East Merger?

[bookworm]

We now have the biggest bank in the country because of the recent merger between BPI and Far East Bank. What will this result in and do you feel that this is good for our country?

[batang uliran]

I think the trend in other countries, not just in the Philippines, is to have banks merge to create much bigger ones and the reasons are the same - larger branch network, lower overhead in terms of merging of common functions and less personnel, larger network of corporate clientele, clout to deal with what I think is the certain expansion of foreign banks in the country and of course, the pride of being one of the biggest. Singapore for instance has only a few really large banks - led by the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) and Japan has been the site of some rather super mergers - Daichi-Kangyo, Fuji Bank and one other to create the largest bank in the world (over $1 trillion in assets or about twice Citigroup) and the marriage of Sakura and Sumitomo banks to create a bank about the size of Citigroup.

I think it is good for the country, good for the industry and good for everyone in general.

[p.i.joe]

are mega-mergers like this good for the country? aaah...i'm not really sure about that but definitely will be good to their bottom line. as batang uliran have said.. operations would be streamlined because of less personnel meaning to say lots of people will be out of work. under normal situations the resulting savings in operating cost should translate into lower borrowing cost (interest & fees) which is the benefit we've come to expect from this merger. :D

but hold on just a second! is the prevailing condition right for this scenario? do we have anti-trust laws that could prevent monopolistic tendencies that is very viable in a diminishing competetive market? don't forget..this is the other result we hope would never happen. :(