BDO aims for 800 branches in 2013

Branch expansion a hedge against tougher regional competition.

Nestor Tan, President of BDO Unibank Inc., the largest Philippine lender by assets, said the bank will add 50 more branches to its network this year.

“Competition is getting to be tougher and that’s why we raised capital and strengthened our position here,” said Tan. “Having a strong base here allows you to invest in your strategy.”

Analysts noted it will be very difficult for Philippine banks to expand overseas and enter other markets because they lack the scale and resources. BDO’s strategy seeks more to protect itself from the entry of foreign banks into its home market than to expand abroad.

BDO has US$30.2 billion in assets, a tenth of DBS Group’s. It is also less than a fifth the size of Malayan Banking, Malaysia’s biggest lender by assets, and less than half the assets of Bangkok Bank Pcl., the largest in Thailand.

Eight in 10 Philippine households have no deposit accounts, said the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the central bank, in its first consumer finance survey published April 2012.

“We see that as an opportunity to bring those outside of the banking system in, and that is growth that we don’t have to steal from other banks,” Tan said.

BDO ended 2012 with 763 branches compared to 820 branches for Bank of the Philippine Islands and 828 for Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company.