iBank eyes additional 50 branches nationwide

Medium-sized lender International Exchange Bank (iBank) has applied for 50 new branch licenses with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, a top bank official said.

"We just applied for it. But it doesn’t mean that we will open all those branches in one year. We’re trying to get more branches," Lanuza said.

He said the bank hopes to open five to eight branches a year. It expects to end the year with a total of 80 branches from the existing 74. The bank plans to expand its branch network to around 100 to 120 branches.

He said while the bank is keen on further expanding its presence nationwide, it has no immediate plans to acquire another bank.

iBank raised over P1 billion from the maiden offering of its shares to the public last year. The IPO involved the sale of 62.5 million primary shares equivalent to about 22 percent of the bank’s outstanding shares.

In the past years, iBank had acquired several branches from the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp., with Metro Manila branches costing P8 million and provincial branches costing P5 million.

iBank earlier said it would undertake a Tier 2 offering which will raise an estimated P1 billion to P2 billion in cash. Proceeds from the Tier-2 capital build up would allow the bank to take advantage of future opportunities for expansion. iBank has a capital adequacy ratio of about 14 percent even without the Tier-2 capital.

iBank opened as a full-service commercial bank in Sept. 1995. It is now the country’s 20th largest bank in terms of assets and ranked sixth in terms of return on equity among 42 universal and commercial banks.

An expanded commercial bank or a universal bank has the powers of an investment bank and the power to invest in non-allied enterprises in addition to authorities of a commercial bank. Offering the widest variety of banking services, commercial banks are all-purpose banks serving the financial needs of individuals and corporate entities in various ways.

iBank’s major shareholders include JTKC Equities, iVantage Corp., Razon Industries, Greenhills Properties Inc. and Philippine Realty and Holdings Corp.