UCPB Savings eyes rural banks for expansion

MANILA, Philippines - UCPB Savings Bank is looking to acquire rural banks in line with its expansion plans, a top bank official said.

UCPB Savings president Joseph C. Justiniano said the thrift bank of United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) wants to grow through organic means and through acquisitions.

“As long as it fits our profile requirements and strategic goals we’ll go for it, Justiniano added.

The bank presently has 33 branches nationwide. It already applied for five new branch licenses with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)

Justiniano also admitted that they are investing millions of pesos for information technology (IT).

“We are investing some P60-P70 million to automate the bank’s core banking systems between October to December this year. Our service will be faster, our turnaround time will be faster,” he explained.

Another P150 million will be tapped to ensure one automated teller machine (ATM) for every branch by end-2010.

At the end of 2008, UCPB Savings has total assets of P4.1 billion. It has remained in the top 15 thrift banks (out of the industry figure of over 80) in terms of assets, deposits, loans and positive capital adequacy ratio (CAR) levels.

Total loans expanded from just P1.1 billion in 2007 to P2.3 billion last year, while deposits grew to P2.5 billion last year from P2.3 billion in 2007.

Net income zoomed to P75 million last year from a mere P25 million in 2007.

UCPB Savings is a product of the merger of four thrift banks in 1989 and the acquisition of UCPB Rural Bank in 2005.