NE-based GM Bank eyes acquisitions

MANILA, Philippines - Nueva Ecija-based GM Bank of Luzon Inc., one of the country’s most aggressive rural banks, is actively looking for other banks to acquire, a top official said.

Tomas S. Gomez IV, GM Bank president and chief executive officer, said they are currently eyeing at least five banks, which he declined to identify pending negotiations.

“We have been looking for banks to acquire for years now,” he said, adding that they intend to grow the bank’s resources through this strategy.

“We would like to continue expanding our operations through merger and consolidation. There is an increasing competition in the industry and we would like to accelerate gain efficiencies by pushing through with these initiatives,” he said. “We want to gain more access to clientele by expanding our coverage areas through acquisition.”

But Gomez admitted that as of now, “nothing has come out yet” of this endeavor.

GM Bank operates in Northern and Central Luzon 1 with 30 branches and resources of over P1 billion.

In late 2010, GM Bank bought Baco Luzon based in Nueva Ecija. GM Bank is also a product of the consolidation of three Nueva Ecija-based banks, Community Rural Bank Inc., Muñoz Rural Bank Inc. and SME Bank.

GM Bank currently operates three micro banking offices (MBOs) or other banking offices (OBOs), one in Sta. Ana, Pampanga and two in Nueva Ecija.

A regular OBO undertakes purely non-transactional banking related activities such as marketing, customer care services, acceptance of loan applications, among others.

A microfinance OBO (MF-OBO) or MBO provides a wide range of transactional activities, which reflect the particular needs of the unserved and underserved market, particularly microfinance clients, overseas Filipinos and their beneficiaries.