PSBank eyes more branches in 2011

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) is planning to open 20 branches this year. In fact, it has already submitted five applications with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

PSBank, the thrift bank of the Metrobank Group, already got the nod to open three branches in Zamboanga, Davao, and Cebu.

“We are waiting for the approval of the next two, which will be go to Valenzuela and Pulilan, Bulacan,” Ismael S. Reyes, PSBank first vice president and head of Branch Banking Group, said in a press briefing yesterday.

BSP regulations allow banks to apply for five branch licenses at a time. When the five have been completed, only then can the bank applicant apply for another five licenses.

The remaining 15 branch expansion areas are focused on Marikina, Las Pinas, Alabang, Muntinlupa, Cavite, Laguna, Naga, and additional branches in Davao and Zamboanga.

Each branch will naturally have at least one ATM although there have been cases when a branch may have two machines depending on the demand.

PSBank already operates 180 branches but runs 380 ATMs. Of the total, 190 units are located within the branch premise and another 190 are classified as off-site. Most offsite ATM units can be found in shopping malls, work place, schools, hospitals, and MRT and LRT stations.

“We want to have our presence felt aside from increasing the level of convenience for the bank customer,” Reyes said.

Banking convenience also include phone banking, Internet banking, credit and debit cards, and lately, pre-paid cards.

PSBank has a bank client base of at least 350,000 of which 40,000 are already enrolled in Internet banking.

Last October 2010, it launched its pre-paid card allied with MasterCard, making it the second thrift bank to introduce pre-paid cards to its customer base and the general public. It is an ATM card, debit card, remittance card, and Internet cash card all rolled into one.

Since it is pre-paid similar to what telecommunications companies offer, anyone can apply for a PSBank pre-paid card. Over 21,000 had already been issued since October.

For a mere initial load of P500, a pre-paid card could be issued from any PSBank branch in less than one hour. Like all pre-paid cards, a maximum of P100,000 per month can be loaded based on BSP and Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLA) regulations.

And since it is allied with MasterCard, withdrawals can be made from over two million MasterCard ATMs worldwide, and more than 7,000 BancNet or Megalink ATMs nationwide.