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Keisha Ta-Asan - The Philippine Star
June 2, 2026 | 12:00am
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, UnionBank said its board approved the issuance of up to P30 billion under the bank’s existing peso bond program during its regular meeting on May 29.
STAR / KJ Rosales
MANILA, Philippines — Union Bank of the Philippines is looking to raise as much as P30 billion from the local debt market as the Aboitiz-led bank moves to strengthen its funding base and support business expansion.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, UnionBank said its board approved the issuance of up to P30 billion under the bank’s existing peso bond program during its regular meeting on May 29.
“The bank has yet to establish the timetable and other details for the issuance. Any issuance shall be subject to market conditions,” it said.
The planned fund-raising comes a year after UnionBank raised P16 billion through a dual-tranche offering of peso-denominated fixed-rate bonds in June 2025, marking its return to the domestic capital market under its expanded P100-billion bond program.
The 2025 issuance exceeded the bank’s initial target of P5 billion per tranche as it drew strong demand from both institutional and retail investors.
UnionBank raised P9.25 billion from 1.5-year Series H bonds due 2026, which carried an interest rate of 5.88 percent per annum. It also generated P6.75 billion from three-year Series I bonds due 2028, with an annual interest rate of 6.02 percent.
If fully exercised, the planned P30-billion issuance will be nearly twice the amount it raised in 2025 and will account for almost a third of its P100-billion bond program.
UnionBank has been tapping the debt market to diversify its funding sources as banks continue to position their balance sheets for loan growth, refinancing needs and changing market conditions.
In December 2023, the bank raised P18.17 billion from a dual-tranche offering under its previous P50-billion bond program. The issuance was more than nine times the initial minimum offer size of P2 billion for the two tranches.
UnionBank is among the country’s largest private universal banks. It is part of the Aboitiz Group and has been expanding its consumer, digital and corporate banking businesses.
The bank’s net income surged by 167 percent to P3.8 billion in the first quarter as stronger lending activity, wider margins and lower credit costs helped offset trading losses.
