The bank was founded by Emerito Ramos as the Overseas Bank of Manila and was incorporated in December 1963. By 1968, the bank came under the control of the Central Bank of the Philippines. In 1979, the Herdis Group acquired the bank and reopened it as the Commercial Bank of Manila in 1980. The Government Service Insurance System acquired the bank from the Herdis Group in 1982. In 1987, the First National Bank of Boston joined a group of Filipino entrepreneurs to acquire the bank in response to the privatization thrust of the Philippine government and renamed the bank as the Boston Bank of the Philippines. A group of Filipino investors – leaders in fields of communications, stock market and brokerage, pre-need services and banking and finance – reinforced the ownership base of the bank, which led to the establishment of the Bank of Commerce on November 28, 1991. Initially the bank focused on trade finance transactions and strengthening other fee based income capabilities such as trust operations. In 1993, the buyout of the majority interest of the First National Bank of Boston was completed, placing BoC fully in Filipino hands. By 2000, as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas encouraged fewer but bigger players in the banking industry, the bank initiated its first step towards a three-way merger. By September, the bank acquired Pan Asia Bank. A year after, Bank of Commerce purchased selected assets and liabilities of Traders Royal Bank paving the way for the takeover of all the branches thereby expanding the branch network to 112. The Monetary Board also approved in principle the bank's acquisition of Urban Bank, although Urban Bank would later be acquired by Export and Industry Bank. In 2005, the bank embarked in Tier 2 capital raising efforts and asset quality enhancements. The same year the bank formed ties with the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, providing the technical support needed in organizing the country's first National Bank.
On October 2007, San Miguel Corporation, through San Miguel Properties, Inc. and the San Miguel Corporation Retirement Fund, signed a 34.3% subscription agreement with Bank of Commerce which was approved by the Monetary Board in May 2008. On April 2008, San Miguel Corporation through SMPI and SMCRF signed another subscription agreement with Bank of Commerce increasing San Miguel's combined stake in the bank to 51.1% and was secured last May 2009. Around April 2010, San Miguel Corporation transferred SMPI's 31% stake in the bank to SMCRF, making SMCRF the controlling shareholder with 51.1% stake on the bank. The proposal was done to counter the regulatory limits imposed on shareholders of the bank During the early part of 2011, SMPI acquired 7.16% interest in the bank thereby increasing the San Miguel group's stake to 58.2%.
Lehman Brothers' exposure
On September 17, 2008, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas announced that 7 Philippine banks have $386M in exposure to Lehman Brothers. Bank of Commerce was one of those affected having $15 million in exposure to the bankrupt US investment banking giant but the bank’s exposure was fully provided for as with the other affected banks.
