Philippine Bank of Communications
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| Public (: PBC) | |
| Industry | Finance and Insurance |
| Founded | Manila, Philippines (1939) |
| Headquarters | Makati, Philippines |
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Key people
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| Products | Financial Services |
| P1.4 billion PHP ( ↑70% YTD Q3 2013) | |
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Number of employees
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1328 |
| Website | www.pbcom.com.ph |
The Philippine Bank of Communications, more commonly known as PBCOM, is one of the largest commercial banks in the Philippines. It was founded in 1939. The bank's headquarters, PBCom Tower,, located in Makati, is the tallest building in the Philippines.
PBCOM started as the Philippine branch of the Chinese Bank of Communications, which became one of the first non-American foreign commercial banks to operate in the Philippines (foreign because it was under Chinese control at the time) with the granting of its banking license on August 15, 1939. It was incorporated and registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 23 and started operations on September 4. The bank started operations at the ground floor of the Trade and Commerce Building on Juan Luna Street in Binondo, Manila, with a staff of twenty men, all below the age of thirty and many fresh out of school.
During the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, PBCOM followed most other banks at the time and closed operations. It resumed operations after World War II in 1945 through the infusion of new financial capital, although it had to operate from another building as its main offices at the time were used as the headquarters of General Douglas MacArthur. Although it was not legally obligated to do so, PBCOM announced that it would honor all pre-war accounts, saying instead that the war and subsequent occupation of the Philippines was merely a long bank holiday that would have no effect on any depositary instrument PBCom had at the time. A year later, PBCOM would join the Manila Clearing House Association.
On July 15, 1947, PBCOM opened its first provincial branch in Cebu City and leased a lot in front of its main office at the time a year later. By March 1953, PBCOM's new six-storey headquarters was inaugurated. The bank's trust department was established in 1962 and its headquarters was remodeled in 1964, which included the retrofitting of the building to house Binondo's first escalator.
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Wikipedia