Bank of Commerce (BOC), the banking unit of San Miguel Corp. (SMC), has started to set up kiosks and automated teller machines (ATMs) in 1,000 service stations run by Petron Corp., SMC president Ramon Ang said.

Ang said the SMC group wants a strong foothold in the banking industry and the additional mini branches will lower the costs of banking services.

He added that no other banks will have more branches than BOC when the Petron service stations are equipped with ATM and small BOC branches or kiosks with limited banking services, similar to the teller-assisted BPI Express branches.

Petron, the largest oil refiner and retailer in the country, currently operates 1,300 stations across the Philippines.

SMC unit San Miguel Properties Inc. controls 51 percent of BOC and it has infused P4 billion in the bank after acquiring the majority share ownership in May.

Ang said setting up small banking kiosks requires no central bank approval. When the 1,000 small BOC branches are in placed, the bank will have a total of 1,059 branches.

The country’ biggest bank, Banco de Oro Unibank, operates 700 branches and 1,200 ATMs. BPI has the most number of branches at 831.

BOC is 14th biggest commercial bank in the Philippines out of 38. As of end-2008, it has a deposit base of P77.9 billion.

According to previous reports, the bank expects to earn a net income of P600 million this year from P270 million in 2008. It has been expanding its operations and services and building up its distribution infrastructure to improve market share.