by Prix D. Banzon

Davao City (13 November) -- One Network Bank (ONB) the biggest rural bank in Mindanao will add six more of its existing 75 branches located in the different rural areas of the island by the first quarter of 2010

ONB president Alex Buenaventura said five of these are new branches which applications are being finalized with Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas will be set up in Ayala in Zamboanga City, Molave and Sindangan in Zamboanga del Norte, Matina Crossing in Davao City and Babak in the Island Garden City of Samal.

He said the other bank is a consolidation with New Corella which he said they are still awaiting approval for them to start the consolidation early next year.

With the new addition he said ONB in 2010 will have a total of 81 branches serving most of the remote areas in Mindanao making their bank with the widest reach in the island.

"We will continue our expansion in Mindanao by investing in potential growth areas and we would really like to see the rural communities reach its full potential through our presence," he said.

He said ONB's efforts towards achieving a sustainable development for the island is expressed in their aggressive branching agenda. The existing 75 branches are distributed over the island and 11 of which are located in the unbanked areas and 16 in sites that are underbanked.

Meanwhile Buenaventura reported that their third quarter performance for 2009 would show that there is no crisis in Mindanao.

The net income after tax of P176 million is 24 percent annualized return on private equity (common stocks) while deposits volume of P6.5 billion is 21 percent over that of last year.

Loans volume of P6 billion is six percent over 2008 while total assts of P9.3 billion is 18 percent over last year. The overseas Filipino workers (OFW) remittances of P101 million is 52 percent compared to last year of same period.

At the rate it is going he said their projected year end net income target of P240 million will be matched that of last year.

Buenaventura attributed their profitability first to the increased loan portfolio by 5.5 percent from P5.7 billion in Q3 of 2008 to P6 billion in Q3 of 2009.

He said this loan growth was principally accounted for the significant increases in One Banana Program Loans to Cavendish banana small farmers- growers and One Business Loans to micro and small entrepreneurs in countryside Mindanao.

He also said that with their wider bank network ONB was able to increase Deposit Liabilities by 20.7 percent from P5.4 billion in Q3 2008 to P6.5 billion in Q3 2009 and with its own funds it was able to fund 109 percent of loan portfolio (deposit to loan ratio).

"This made ONB self-reliant in terms of funding loans which is cheaper than the alternative borrowings (bills payable) which are much more costly," he said.

Meanwhile Buenaventura said ONB remains upbeat for the rest of 2009 considering that credit demand remains strong for salary loans of the Department of Education and One Banana Program Growers loan and the One Business Loans. The volume of foreign remittances has also contributed to the resiliency of the island's economy.