Phil. Veterans Bank eyes Tagum, Digos branches

The Philippine Veterans Bank is considering the establishment of two more branches in the Davao Region, possibly in Tagum City, the capital of Davao del Norte and Digos City in Davao del Sur.
Miguel Angelo C. Villareal, PVB vice president and corporate communications head, told reporters the bank is expanding in the region as its provincial branches have grown in terms both of deposits and loans with the main clients being big government accounts.
Villareal said the bank hopes to serve new clients when it opens new branches, particularly corporations and local government units that have become their main sources of income. A branch becomes self sustaining if its total revenues reach about P100 million, he added.
Sometime last year and this year, the bank set up two branches in the last two years, one in Kidapawan City, North Cotabato and Koronadal City in South Cotabato.
He said the bank has been aggressive since 2010 in expansion as it set up 10 branches that year with the goal of growing its key products.
“(The setting up of the new branches) all depends on the approval of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. As you know, we are very regulated (industry),” he said during his visit to Davao City last week.
Villareal said the bank, whose main stockholders are veteran soldiers and their families, has still continued to hit growth although the big chunk of the growth still comes from Metro Manila, being the center of trade.
The bank will continue to innovate in its products as part of its desire for growth, he said.
The Mindanao business sector has welcomed the setting up of new bank branches in the island.
Vicente T. Lao, chair of the Mindanao Business Council, told newsmen earlier that opening up of new bank branches in Mindanao offers more opportunities especially for the business sector to access funds.
Accessing funds, Lao explained, has become among the biggest obstacles in the growth of local businesses because banks and other financial institutions have imposed stringent measures on loan accessibility.
A few years ago, the national government, through the Department of Trade and Industry, implemented the SME Unified Lending Opportunities for National Growth in its desire to address the clamor of small and medium enterprises that they be provided with better systems so they can access funds for their expansion.
However, even with the implementation of the program, which was supposed to compel financial institutions to have a singular system in their loans procedures, these institutions have continued to impose their respective stringent regulations.