One Network Bank, the widest banking network in Mindanao with 75 branches, plans to expand in Visayas by end 2011. According to ONB president Alex V. Buenaventura, the bank’s proven niche-market business model of building modern banking infrastructure in countryside areas of Mindanao will be replicated in Visayas where there are very progressive countryside areas that are underbanked in terms of access to modern big-bank facilities such as PCHC Direct Clearing Checking Account, ATMs & POS Debit Terminals, Online Fund Transfers, Fast Inward Foreign Remittances & Micro-to-Big Business Loans.
ONB has BSP approval for the following five (5) new branches in Mindanao: 1. Matina Crossing in Davao City; 2. Babak in the Island Garden City of Samal, Davao del Norte; 3. Oroquieta City in Misamis Occidental; 4. Molave in Zamboanga del Sur; and 5. Ayala in Zamboanga City. After opening said 5 branches in September 2010, ONB will apply for another 5 branches (4 in Mindanao plus 1 in Makati City) with targeted opening by April 2011. Then the next 5 branches to be applied for licensing by BSP will all be loacted within a selected cluster area in Visayas and they are targeted for opening before end 2011.
A comparative study of different potential cluster areas in Visayas is on-going which should be completed in six months resulting into a selected priority cluster area. ONB has practiced the “cluster approach of at least 5 new branches” in entering a new cluster area in countryside Mindanao. This cluster approach was pilot tested in Bukidnon for its Quezon, Don Carlos, Maramag, Valencia and Malaybalay branches.
ONB describes itself as “The Big Bank in Countryside Mindanao” because its 75-branch network is wider than all other banks and because more than half of said branches are located in countryside areas in Mindanao that are either unbanked or underbanked. ONB has a big clientele base of more than 510,000 small depositors and 92,000 small borrowers being served by its more than 1,050 professional employees and 96 ATM machines.
ONB, which has been carrying the slogan “Pera ng Mindanao, Para sa Mindanao” will before end 2011 carry a second slogan “Kwarta ng Visayas, Para sa Visayas” as a maintenance of its unique banking commitment that all deposits generated from the area will be used for micro-to-big loans in the same area.
