Philippine Veterans Bank eyes 15 new branches

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB) is opening 15 new branches this year following the approval of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) its branch licenses. Presently, it operates 45 branches nationwide.

PVB president chief executive officer Ricardo A. Balbido Jr. said that they will open five new branch sites in Antipolo City, Rizal; San Fernando, Pampanga; Tarlac City; Cavite City, and Lucena City.

The 10 other branch sites will be located in Visayas and Mindanao.

For 2009, PVB eyes a growth target of 15 percent or P52 billion in total assets by yearend. As of yearend 2008, total assets were at P45.54 billion ranking it the 20th largest commercial bank in the country.

Balbido said majority of the growth resulted from total deposits, which grew by 39.5 percent to P37.1 billion from P26.6 billion year-on-year.

Total loan receivables ballooned by 73.2 percent to P23.9 billion last year from the P13.8 billion during the same period in 2007. In both loans and deposits, a sizeable portion of the business came from government agencies and local government units.

However, unaudited net income fell by 23 percent to P406.4 million last year from the P528.6 million in 2007. This was due to the decline in securities trading income despite the significant growth of its deposit base and loan portfolios in 2008.

Capital base grew to P4.74 billion while its capital adequacy ratio (CAR) remained high at 21.46 percent. Return on equity stood at 13.68 percent.

Its ATM cardholder base also grew to 95,000 mainly due to payroll accounts with government units and agencies using its unique “4-in-1” card that functions as an ATM card, personnel or company ID, a time-in/time-out card and discount cards.