BDO to boost branch network outside NCR

BDO UNIBANK, Inc. (BDO) wants to further expand its presence in the countryside rather than putting up more branches here in the National Capital Region (NCR) as it looks to tap the provincial market for maximum growth.

“We’re expanding our branch network here local[ ly], most of them in areas outside of the National Capital Region,” BDO President and Chief Executive Officer Nestor V. Tan told reporters after the Bankers Association of the Philippines’ (BAP) General Membership Meeting on Tuesday evening.

Asked particularly where the bank plans to set up new branches in the Visayas or Mindanao, Mr. Tan said, “It’s a mixture.”

“It’s really a matter of current presence. We already have a lot of branches here [in NCR]... We have enough,” he said.

BDO’s total branch network hit 1,000 after it opened its latest outlet in Davao City last March 20 amid its efforts to set up shop in relatively unbanked areas.

Mr. Tan, who is now on his second year as BAP president, had previously said that BDO aims to add 50 to 70 branches this year, with most to be situated outside NCR.

At end- 2016, the country’s largest bank in asset terms had a total branch network of 982. Broken down, 492 of its branches are located in Metro Manila while 305 are in Luzon, 108 in Visayas and 76 in Mindanao.

The official had said that BDO is looking to continue expanding its footprint across the country to end 2017 with a total of 1,042 branches.

The listed lender’s bottomline reached P26.1 billion last year, 4% higher from the P25.1 billion booked in 2015 and hitting its P26- billion earnings guidance for 2016, on the back of a doubledigit growth in its interest and fee-based revenue.

Its customer loan portfolio increased by 16% to P1.5 trillion as of end- 2016 amid an expansion in its deposit intake by 15% to P1.9 trillion. This brought its net interest income to grow 15% year-on-year to P65.6 billion. —