BDO opens 1,000th branch

BDO Unibank, has reached the 1,000-branch milestone—establishing the widest footprint among Philippine banks— with the opening of its newest branch in Davao City.

BDO’s 1,000th branch was opened in Buhangin, one of the most populated areas in Davao City.

Jaime C. Yu, senior executive vice president of BDO and head of branch banking, said reaching the 1,000-branch milestone was a testament to the bank’s commitment to make banking more accessible to Filipinos whether they are in metropolitan areas or far-flung provinces.

“We fully recognize that there are still about 70 percent of the population with no bank accounts… The continued growth of our branch network is our way of creating opportunities for more people to experience the rewards of having a bank that takes care of their financial needs,” Yu said in a statement.
BDO ended 2016 with a branch network of 982, including one branch in Hong Kong. Of the total, 492 branches were in Metro Manila, 305 in the rest of Luzon, 108 in Visayas and 76 in Mindanao.

This year, the bank plans to add 60 more branches.

BDO has also changed the game in banking by introducing longer banking hours and weekend banking.

The bank’s distribution channel is complemented by more than 3,600 automated teller machines (ATMs) and electronic channels.

BDO, the banking arm of the SM group, posted a record high net income of P26.1 billion in 2016, citing strong results across its core businesses.

Early this year, BDO also completed a landmark P30-billion capital-raising exercise. Proceeds from the issuance increased BDO’s common equity tier 1 capital to an estimated 15.7 percent, making the bank in a better positioned to fulfill its medium-term growth objectives and take advantage of the positive outlook on the Philippine economy. This issue is likewise seen to provide a comfortable buffer over higher capital requirements with the imposition of the “Domestic Systemically Important Bank” (DSIB) surcharge.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has classified banks depending on the extent of their systemic importance using pre-defined indicators for size, interconnectedness, substitutability and market reliance as a financial market infrastructure as well as complexity. The higher bar for DSIBs like BDO in terms of capital requirement and supervisory expectations is intended to strengthen the financial system by lowering the probability of systemic bank failures.