MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB) is aiming for greater market share and visibility in the highly competitive banking industry by intensifying its efforts to professionalize its ranks and enhance its information technology system, its top official said.
PVB president and chief executive officer Ricardo A. Balbido Jr. said these initiatives have enabled the bank to become one of the most liquid banks in the country todate and consistently generate profits for its veteran shareholders.
In 2011, PVB posted a net income of P519.07 million about the same level as the previous year’s P519.59 million.
During the same period, the bank’s total assets stood at P57.38 billion, while capital funds were at P5.68 billion as of Dec. 31, 2012, with a capital-adequacy ratio of 16.15 percent under Basel II, still above the BSP minimum requirement of 10 percent.
Balbido, who joined the bank in January 2011, spearheaded the significant changes and improvements in the bank.
Prior to PVB, Balbido was senior vice president at Bank of the Philippine Islands until 1995 when he was asked to help set up Dao Heng Bank where he later became its president.
According to Balbido, PVB has been professionalizing its ranks with intensified training activities and hiring seasoned banking executives and managers to help grow the business and boost performance.
The bank, he said, has also been upgrading its IT systems to expand and improve its capacity to manage its government and private account portfolios.
“Innovative products and tailor-fit services were also introduced to the corporate market for both private and public clients,” he said.
PVB is a private bank, but it has the advantage of being an authorized depository of government funds. As stated in RA 7169 Section 6, Veterans Bank is declared as a government depository for government agencies and LGUs.
Some 20 years ago, PVB re-opened its doors to the public, through the efforts and persistent lobbying of the Veterans Federation of the Philippines (VFP) led by its president Col. Emmanuel V. de Ocampo. This time the Filipino veterans are now the true owners, and not owners in paper only.
The idea xx to establish a veterans bank began in 1956 when the war reparations agreement with Japan was concluded. It provided for payment by Japan to the Philippines of $20 million in cash, P5 million in capital goods and $10 million in services.
Republic Act 1789 better known as the Reparations Law, placed the cash reparations in a trust fund for the benefit of World War II veterans, their widows and orphans.
If these funds were distributed at that time to the veterans, each would have received only about P100 computed at the prevailing exchange rate of two pesos to the US dollar. However, the legislators deemed it best to invest the funds into a bank that would service the veterans’ needs and provide for their future.