ChinaBank Savings targets 100 new branches

MANILA, Philippines - ChinaBank Savings Inc., a subsidiary of China Banking Corp., is planning to open 100 new branches and its variants in the next three to five years.

It presently operates 25 branches and the same number of automated teller machines (ATMs).

ChinaBank Savings president Alberto Emilio V. Ramos noted that the attractive lending rates as well as the low inflation environment versus strong remittances from overseas Filipinos continues to fuel strong personal spending. The country’s economy is expect to grow from a low of four percent to a high of six percent this year boosted by strong public and personal spending.

“We want to ride on the crest of strong private consumption,” Ramos said.

Remittances from overseas Filipinos coursed through banks for 2011 expanded by 7.2 percent to a record $20.1 billion.

Cash transfers from overseas Filipinos, estimated to be around nine percent of gross domestic product (GDP), continued to be a major contributor in stimulating domestic demand.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said that substantial expansion of fund transfers from Filipinos abroad was due to higher remittances from both sea-based and land-based workers, which rose by 14 percent and 5.5 percent, respectively.

 The remittances of land-based workers accounted for about three-fourths or 78.4 percent of total remittances. For the month of December 2011, remittances grew by 6.2 percent, registering the highest monthly level at $1.8 billion.

Aside from personal consumption, Filipinos are starting to save, make various types of investments, and start their own businesses.

Ramos expects the retail market to make aggressive loans and the bank wants to be in the right place to meet the demand of its target market.

The bank president said that ChinaBank Savings would either raise internally generated funds or tap the capital markets for its aggressive expansion program.

 Aside from branch and ATM expansion, it will also develop its electronic capabilities to cope with the anticipated large flow of loan and deposit transactions as well as its aggressive expansion program.

“We have recruited the best minds and talent for that purpose,” he pointed out.

 At the end of 2011, the thrift bank reported total resources of P5.9 billion and a capital base of P1.3 billion. Total loans stood at P1.87 billion while total deposits were recorded at P4.4 billion.

 Ramos joined China Bank in 2006 as head of Private Banking Group. Prior to this he was the president of Philam Asset Management Inc. He has 29 years of experience in financial services in various areas such as private banking, asset management, treasury, credit and account management gained from local and foreign institutions.

ChinaBank Savings began operations on September 2008, following China Bank’s acquisition of Manila Bank in late 2007. The chairman of the board is China Bank senior executive vice president Ricardo Chua.