Veterans Bank’s Oplan Beterano bags best customer service award

The Philippine Veterans Bank’s (PVB) Oplan Beterano was awarded the best customer service category in the prestigious Asian Banking Awards 2004.

The annual awards was held during the Asia-Pacific Banking Congress held in Manila this year, with over 300 financial and banking leaders in attendance.

The Asian Bankers Association and the Bank Marketing Association of the Philippines (BMAP) co-sponsored the Asia-Pacific Banking Congress.

Oplan Beterano is a joint winner in the customer service program category along with Jammu & Kashmir Bank of India.

Over a 100 projects from 49 banks in 15 countries vied for the awards. The other winners this year include International Commercial Bank of China, Development Bank of the Philippines, PT Bank Mandiri, DBS Bank, OCBC Bank and Taiwan Business Bank.

PVB’s customer program is designed to help the elderly war veterans and widows get their monthly pensions. PVB is one of the conduit banks of the veteran’s monthly old-age pension from the Philippine government.

In its Camp Aguinaldo branch alone, nearly 3,000 veterans, widows and their children go to the branch to claim their monthly pension.

To help service this huge number of clients in just one banking day, Oplan Beterano implemented process improvements such as improved number system, longer banking hours, more tellers and volunteers to help the elderly veterans fill-up their withdrawal forms.

Amenities such as shuttle services, portalets and snacks were also instituted to help ease the clients‚ waiting time.

"Certainly, this is an outstanding achievement for the bank that our efforts for our primary customer, the Filipino WW2 veterans, has been recognized by our peers in both the local and international banking industry," PVB president and chief executive officer Ricardo A. Balbido Jr. said.

Earlier, the bank signed a P380-million loan and guarantee agreement to finance the completion and operation of the Hilton Cebu Resort & Towers in Mactan Island, Cebu.

The co-signatories to the agreement are the Philippine Export-Import Credit Agency (PhilEXIM) and Goldland Philippines Corp. The PVB will provide the full amount with a guarantee from PhilEXIM.

The total project cost is P1.5 billion with three major components: the five-star resort hotel; the residential condominiums; and the Resort Club.

The 250-room resort hotel is scheduled for a soft-opening in the middle of this year. The Hilton Residence-I is completed, with only six remaining units left available. Hilton Residence-II and The Resort Club are scheduled for completion at the end of the year.