Veterans bank posts 10% revenue growth in July

CEBU, Philippines - Despite the weak global financial landscape, Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB) managed to post a 10 percent growth as of July this year, with over P51 billion revenues.

As of yearend 2008, the bank only posted P45 billion in revenues, this year PVB is expecting a turn-around.

The bank earmarks an estimated P2.2 billion in the next two years to open 15 branches across the country.

The P2.2 billion investment cost is calculated based on an average expenses incurred in a one building construction which is P15 million.

PVB president and chief executive officer (CEO) Ricardo A. Balbido Jr, in an earlier interview said that the bank is very liquid and in fact has excess capacity.

“This is a good indication of depositors’ strong confidence of the bank,” he said.

The aggressive expansion plan of the bank this year is primarily prompted by the approval of the Bangko Sentral Ng Pilipinas (BSP) for 15 new branch licenses.

Yesterday, the bank broke ground to officially kick off the construction of the four-story PVB building at the 1,200 square-meter property owned by the bank located at Osmeña Bouvelard.

PVB vice president Mike Villareal said PVB is expecting to formally inaugurate the building in Cebu before the end of this year.

The P28 million integrated-used building will provide value added services to veterans transacting with the bank, including medical clinics, outpatient diagnostic services, centralized disbursement of medicines, among others.

The new building which will be opened six months from now, will only use about 360 square-meters for the branch’s facility (a relocation from the Cebu Doctors’ branch), the rest will be dedicated for support services such as medical facilities, commercial outlets, and offices.

At present there are a total of 45 PVB branches nationwide. Two of which are located in Cebu, the branches near Cebu Doctors Hospital in Capitol Site, and in Mandaue City. These two branches in Cebu are servicing to over five thousand veterans.

The bank’s total resources grew by 25.3 percent to P45.59 billion by year-end 2008 compared to P36.4 billion in 2007.

According to Balbino, majority of the growth resulted from total deposits that grew by 25.3 percent to P37.1 billion from P29.6 billion year-on-year.

The bank’s total loan receivables ballooned by 38.5 percent to P19.1 billion as of December 31, 2009 from the P13.8 billion of the same period of the previous year.

Net income stood at P406 million for the year 2008, or a 23 percent decrease from the P528.6 million reported in 2007.