PSBank enhances service to customers

MANILA, Philippines - It’s difficult not to notice the sudden proliferation of those red and blue automated teller machines (ATMs) in malls and other high traffic areas.

The move is PSBank’s latest innovation in its fast-growing banking business.

For the past year, PSBank, a member of the Metrobank Group, has been aggressive in putting “offsite” ATMs or machines that are not in their respective bank branches. These offsite ATMs are mostly in various malls and high-traffic areas such as the different stations of the metro rail transit or MRT.

In an interview, PSBank’s top officials said the move is part of the bank’s “branding” strategy and its enhanced service to customers.

PSBank senior vice president Jose Alde, head of the bank’s Branch Banking Group, said the move to put offsite ATMs is geared towards improving service to customers and to making it more convenient for them to make their cash withdrawals whenever and wherever they may be.

“By the end of the year, we are targeting to open 150 offsite ATMs,” Alde said.

PSBank executive vice-president Rolly Rodriguez said the bottom line is that PSBank wants to be consistent with its guiding principle.

These new offsite ATMs will enable more PSBank customers and other people to experience the kind of banking service that PSBank has been known for – “Simple lang, Maasahan.”

To date, the bank has already opened 82 offsite ATMs. In all, PSBank has a total of 279 in-branch and offsite ATMs nationwide.

Some of the bank’s newly-opened offsite ATMs are found in various malls including the Ayala malls, Shopwise, Festival Mall, Araneta Square and Harbor Squaare.

They also have these offsite machines in giant supermarkets such as S&R, Shopwise, Waltermart and Cash and Carry.

Alde said that aside from malls and supermarkets, they also have offsite machines in bus stations and in amusement parks.

He believes that through these offsite ATMs, PSBank is able to reach out to customers.

 “We always have to be reliable because we want to get a bigger deposit share,” he said.

Reliability, explains Rodriguez, is not just about being visible but being always available as well unlike other ATMs that are sometimes offline or out of service.

Aside from the establishment of offsite ATMs, PSBank also improved its delivery of ATMs with the Instant ATM Card.

With this, customers can now get their personalized ATM card on the spot. In case, they lose or damage their card, they can replace it on the same day in any of PSBank’s 170 branches nationwide. They can also use the card on the same day to withdraw cash, pay bills and shop at BancNet-affiliated stores, officials said.

With these enhanced services, PSBank is surely on the right track as far as meeting customers’ needs is concerned. Good service, after all, is essential for companies like PSBank that rely heavily on other people’s money.

More importantly, for banks like PSBank, good service translates to higher income as well.

PSBank posted a net income of P623 million as of end June 2009, 24 percent higher than the year-ago level, on the back of strong growth from its core lending business and government securities investments. 

“We are very pleased with the good performance of PSBank in the first six months of 2009 despite challenges brought about by the global economic downturn. We will continue to build on this momentum as we aim for our P1.1 billion net income target by yearend,” said Rodriguez.