City Savings Bank to boost lending portfolio by P10 billion

SINGAPORE - City Saving Bank is raising as much as P10 billion as it continues to diversify its lending portfolio by venturing into loans for government employees.

CitySavings president and CEO Lorenzo Ocampo said in an interview on the sidelines of the Singapore Fintech Festival that the bank is planning to issue long-term negotiable certificates of deposits (LTNCDs) to raise between P5 billion and P10 billion.

“We’re looking at P5 (billion) but we can extend to P10 (billion). All for lending,” Ocampo said.

Ocampo told visiting journalists that the thrift banking arm of Aboitiz-led Union Bank of the Philippines is tapping British banking giant HSBC as the arranger of the proposed maiden LTNCD offering scheduled before the end of the month.

“Our portfolio grew this year by almost 50 percent. So that’s how strong this year has been for us. And next year with a pipeline of products coming, in I think the growth will be sustained,” Ocampo said.

As of end-September, the country’s third largest thrift bank said its loan book jumped by 50 percent to P85 billion, backed by its deposit base that stood at P100 billion.

CitySavings, he said, is the market leader in teacher’s salary loan with P55 billion.

He added the thrift bank is also a major player for motorcycle loans with P10 billion and other salary loans with P10 billion.

Ocampo said the bank is diversifying its lending portfolio via the loans for government employees.

Describing it as a green field, he said the loan product could be as big as the teacher’s salary loan starting with about P10 billion this year and P15 billion next year.

“We’re entering the green field and I think this is going to be as big as the teacher’s market,” Ocampo said.

For one, he said CitySavings is now providing a salary loan facility for the employees of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).

The mid-sized bank is extending easily accessible, value-adding loan services to all DAR employees across the country.

In December 2020, CitySavings raised P5 billion via the issuance of corporate notes to selected institutional investors.