Business Roundup

Sterling Bank’s new branches

Sterling Bank of Asia, one of the leading savings bank in the country, is continuing its aggressive expansion program with the opening of five new branches.

The new branches are located at Leviste Street in Makati City, Ninoy Aquino Avenue in Pasay City, Timog Avenue and Congressional Avenue in Quezon City and in Cagayan de Oro City.

“Our goal is to provide our customers with the best possible personal banking experience. We always look for ways to support the needs of the growing number of communities in which we operate,” said bank president and CEO Lamberto R. Villena.

“The usual practice among banks is that the branch where the depositor opens an account becomes the depositor’s home branch and that is the only branch that can instantly provide full range of banking services to the depositor. Sterling Bank cuts this limitation by using the online signature verification facility, which allows all its 33 branches to electronically access the records of any Sterling Bank clients,” Villena said.

Through this facility, depositors can encash their checks at any Sterling Bank branch, nationwide. As such, all 33 branches become the home branch to all Sterling Bank depositors regardless of where they opened their accounts.

Prepayment of notes

A wholly owned subsidiary of the Lopez-led First Gen Corp. has prepaid some P5.6 billion in corporate notes to lower the company’s interest expenses.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, First Gen said the three-year corporate note facility was arranged for Unified Holdings Corp. in 2009 by a consortium of banks led by BDO Capital and Investment Corp., Philippine National Bank and Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.

The facility, which had an interest rate of 9.3769 percent, was intended to strengthen the financial position as it had brought the debt at the First Gen level nearer to its operating subsidiaries.