City Savings to open branch lites in unserved areas

CITYSAVINGS Bank, the thrift bank subsidiary of Union Bank of the Philippines, is converting some of its loan processing outlets into branch lites this year to facilitate greater access of financial products in underserved areas.

Paula Ruelan, reputation management head of CitySavings, said 21 loans processing outlets of the bank will be transformed into branch lites this year.

Moreover, six more branch lites will be added before the end of the year, of which three will be located in Luzon and the other three in Mindanao.

Branch “lite” units are more flexible versions of typical bank branches. According to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), these are meant to address the lack of banking presence in 570 cities and municipalities in the country.

Branch lite units can offer products and services suited to the needs of their market.

CitySavings said it will continue to expand outside the teachers segment, with possible acquisitions in the pipeline, to fast-track capabilities in providing financial services to underserved Filipinos.

It said growth will come from non-traditional loan products for pensioners (GSIS/SSS), overseas Filipino workers and, soon, seafarers.

CitySavings Bank is a member of the Aboitiz Group. It has 85 full branches scattered all over the country.

In addition, Ruelan announced the bank received its reaccreditation by the Department of Education as a partner in providing teachers’ salary loans.

She said the bank’s focus would still be its current business model offering teachers loans, household loans and pension loans.

Recently, CitySavings Bank took over Aboitiz Equity Ventures’ (AEV) remittance business Petnet Inc.

The deal consolidates AEV’s interests in banking and financial services under Union Bank, which is 48.83-percent owned by AEV.

Union Bank, in turn, owns 99.77 percent of City Savings and 100 percent of Union Properties.