21st century
In early 2000, the Lucio Tan Group became the single biggest private stockholder. In less than one year, the group pumped nearly ₱20 billion of fresh capital into the bank. In late 2000, when PNB suffered huge withdrawals, mainly from the government accounts, the government provided ₱25 billion in financial aid.
In May 2002, the Philippine government and Lucio Tan signed an agreement to swap the government's loans to shares. The accord increased the government's stake to 45 percent from 16 percent and reduced Lucio Tan's holding to 45 percent from 67 percent.[11] Lucio Tan and the government also agreed that year to sell three-quarters of their combined stake within five years.
Also the same year, PNB hired 40-year old Lorenzo V. Tan as its youngest bank president.[12] Following the senior management's Good Bank-Bad Bank strategy, PNB finally posted an income of ₱52 million (as restated from an earlier reported figure of ₱168 million, due to changes in Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) in 2003, after several years of being in the red. The bank was able to repeat this feat and reported an income of ₱353 million by end-2004.
In August 2005, PNB became fully privatized. The joint sale by the Philippine government and the Lucio Tan Group of the 67% stake in PNB was completed within the third quarter of 2005. The Lucio Tan Group exercised its right to match the ₱43.77 per share bid offered by a competitor and purchased the shares owned by the government. The completion of sale is expected to speed up the development of PNB's franchise and operational competitiveness.
Despite being fully privatized, PNB continued to be a government depository bank until May 3, 2007.[13]
PNB has remittance centers in the United States, Canada, England, Spain, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and in countries in the Middle East.
PNB has also stepped up its marketing efforts to overseas Filipino workers with its PNB Global Filipino Money Card.[14]
Complementing PNB's banking activities are its subsidiaries like PNB General Insurers, a non-life insurance company; PNB Capital, an investment bank; PNB Securities, a stock brokerage outfit; and PNB Forex, which engages in foreign exchange trading. It also has a majority stake in PNB-Japan Leasing Corp. For life insurance requirements of PNB clients, it has a substantial equity stake in Beneficial PNB Life.
