Wednesday, June 21, 2006
ONB to open 7 more branches in Mindanao
By Barbara Carla R. Quiero
THE One Network Bank (ONB), the country's largest rural bank, will expand its network by opening seven more branches in Mindanao.
ONB president Alex V. Buenaventura said three of these new branches will be in Manay, Davao Oriental, Malaybalay, Bukidnon and Tibungco. It will open on June 19.
He said they will not yet divulge where the four other branches will be established to protect their business from competitors.
Buenavantura said with the expansion, they will be hiring more employees. Four will be hired from the area where the new branch will be opened and two others will be taken out from existing branches to train the new employees.
"We need to hire four locals those that are from the area, especially in far flung-areas," Buenaventura said during the press conference Saturday.
He, however, said they are not planning to expand their network outside Mindanao for the next 2 years.
"We are not really very much on competing with commercial banks in commercial centers but in remote areas with big potentials. We want money in Mindanao will stay in Mindanao," he said, adding that Mindanao has a lot of potentials in the sugar, rice and rubber industry.
During the same press conference, the bank declared a P171.4 million dividend, the biggest amount of dividend pay out by a rural bank.
During the 3rd Annual ONB stockholders' Meeting held at the Davao Trade and Convention Center over the weekend, the bank paid out P171.4 million as dividends to its stockholders, P164.1 million of which is in the form of shares of stocks and P7.3 million in the form of cash.
Buenaventura said the bank's success can be attributed to the small accounts entered their bank.
"We thank the small account clients of Mindanao for trusting the bank and we would like to relay to them that we are committed to them," Buenaventura said during a press conference at the Regines restaurant Saturday.
In a news release, the bank said the ONB's dividend policy prescribes the distribution of dividends more in the form of stocks than in cash.
"This in turn, provides ONB with the financial capacity to invest in the needed infrastructure and in technology for the expansion of its branch network and the deployment of ATM services in the countryside," the bank said.
Today, ONB has 62 branches and 41 ATMs. They have a total of 340,000 depositors and 70,000 borrowers.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (June 21, 2006 issue)
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