BSP approves 4 regular bank branches in Q2
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) approved only four regular bank branch applications for the months of April to June, slightly higher than the three approvals in the first quarter this year, according to BSP Deputy Governor Chuchi G. Fonacier.
No big banks or universal and commercial banks applied for regular branches in the second quarter.
The four regular branch applications were submitted by a thrift bank and a rural/cooperative bank, namely China Bank Savings, subsidiary of the Sy-controlled China Bank Corp., and First Isabela Cooperative Bank.
On the other hand, the BSP approved 39 branch-lite units (BLUs), of which 30 were applied by BPI Direct BanKo of Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) and rural banks’ Lifebank and Rural Bank of Escalante Negros.
Based on a circular letter, Fonacier said there were nine regular bank branches that opened in the second quarter, of which three are owned by big banks and six by rural/cooperative banks.
The three big banks that opened regular branches in the second quarter were China Bank, HSBC and Security Bank Corp. Each bank opened one branch during the period.
Meanwhile there were 42 BLUs that opened in the second quarter, of which 36 were by rural banks and six by thrift banks.
BanKo opened three BLUs while China Bank Savings also opened three BLUs in the second quarter.
There were 11 rural banks with newly opened BLUs including the Sy-owned BDO Network Bank which opened the most number of BLUs with 21 out of 36.
The BSP has been approving less and less regular branches of banks and more of the streamlined units with limited banking services amid the industry’s changing landscape.
Regular branches are full-sized banks, mostly traditional brick-and-mortar branches or contained within a building and offers full banking services.
The difference between regular branches and BLUs is that the latter have limited banking activities but could provide a wide range of products and services suited for servicing the needs of the market except for sophisticated clients with aggressive risk tolerance.
Since the pandemic and the rise of digital banking including e-wallet and other online-only or mobile financial transactions in the last three years, the banking industry has reorganized, streamlined and consolidated their traditional brick-and-mortar branches, and opted to digitalized more of its products and services.
As of end-September, based on BSP data, there are 45 big banks and 43 thrift banks. There are also 391 rural/cooperative banks in the country.
In total, the BSP supervised financial institutions number 29,937, of which 13,380 are banks’ head offices and other offices. Of the 13,380, 485 are head offices and 12,895 are regular branches, BLUs and microfinance-oriented units.