UnionBank’s CitySavings to acquire more rural and savings banks

City Saving Bank Inc., the thrift bank arm of Union Bank of the Philippines, is eyeing to expand operations by acquiring more rural and savings banks.

UnionBank president and CEO Edwin Bautista said its thrift bank unit is looking out for new targets to acquire.

“Our strategy is to pursue expansion in City Savings through acquisitions ... ‘Yung kulang na lang is penetration in the rural areas,” Bautista said in an interview with GMA News Online late Tuesday.

“For City Savings Bank we will be acquiring more rural banks, savings banks,” he said.

The goal is a moving target.

“There is no fixed target, because each bank has a different set of complexity and until you go and talk with these banks you will know if they’re interested to sell,” Bautista said.

The UnionBank chief said that CitySaving is in early stages of talks with several banks.

“There are many microfinance-focused thrift banks and rural banks thinking of selling ... So we are very actively looking for opportunities,” CitySavings chairman Eugene Acevedo said in a separate dialogue with reporters late Tuesday.

Last January, CitySavings acquired Isabela-based Philippine Resources Savings Bank—the 14th largest thrift bank in the country, with assets totaling P12.917 billion and 102 offices mostly in Luzon.

In December 2016, it acquired 11-branch First-Agro Industrial Bank based in Cebu.
 
The strategy to acquire rural banks is in line with the aim of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to improve financial inclusion and strengthen the banking industry via mergers and consolidations, Acevedo noted.

CitySavings is the fifth largest thrift bank in the country in terms of assets at P74.444 billion as of June 30, 2017.

Its mass market products and services include loans to OFWs, salary loans to public and private school teachers, pension loans to GSIS and SSS members, and traditional deposit products. —VDS, GMA News