Banks get BSP nod to open branches

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has approved the opening of over 200 new bank branches in the first quarter of the year, supporting the sector’s expansion to give more Filipinos access to formal financial services.

Data released by the regulator this week showed that various banks were allowed to open a total of 211 new bank branches in the first quarter, or more than double the 97 applications that were given the green light in the same period last year.

The BSP’s approval for new branches covers 10 universal and commercial, five thrift, and seven rural and cooperative banks.

Among the major banks that got the thumbs up to put up new branches was BDO Unibank Inc. Of the 19 new branches BDO wants to put up, only four will be in Metro Manila—all in Taguig City.

Other commercial banks allowed to put up new branches were Asia United Bank, Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., Philippine National Bank, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., Security Bank Corp., and Maybank Philippines.

State-led banks Development Bank of the Philippines and Land Bank of the Philippines were also authorized to open up new branches.

For thrift banks, RCBC Savings Bank and City Savings Bank were also among the companies opening new branches.

Apart from regular branches, the BSP also gave the green light for the opening of 10 other banking offices and 10 microbanking offices.

Latest data from the BSP showed that local financial institutions had 27,211 offices around the country. About 63 percent of these were pawnshops. Banks had a network of 9,477 offices at the end of March, compared to 17,408 pawnshops.