CARD Bank opens 94th branch in Masbate

CARD Bank, a microfinance-oriented rural bank, opened its 94th branch in Brgy. Silangan, San Fernando, Masbate on March 18, 2019. It is the 5th branch of the bank in the province after its branches in Aroroy, Dimasalang, Cataingan, and Masbate City.

“The new branch in Masbate is our way of providing direct access to financial and social development programs to the communities in San Fernando,” said Dr. Dolores M. Torres, senior management adviser of the bank.

The area of San Fernando is covered by the bank’s branch in Masbate City. “We have almost 17,000 clients in the municipality. All of them endure travelling via boat or habal-habal just to make banking transactions with us,” Dr. Torres added.

To ease the difficulty in accessing the services of the bank, its management decided to put up a branch within the municipality. “Our commitment is to always make financial and non-financial services accessible to our clients. That’s why we were really eager to have this opened,” she said.

CARD Bank San Fernando Branch is now the first bank established in the municipality. This, according to Dr. Torres, is another milestone in CARD Bank’s operations. “We have seen the development of our clients in the area. Their businesses are already viable and it’s high time for us to respond closely to their growing financial and social development needs,” said Dr. Torres.

The branch opening also is part of the bank’s goal to establish 100 branches in all of the regions in the Philippines this year especially to areas where access to financial services is limited.

The branch opening was led by Dr. Torres and CARD Bank Executive Vice President Lorenza dT. Bañez.

CARD Bank provides a wide range of loan and savings products and other services that are intended to fit clients’ businesses and family needs at low interest rate and flexible payment terms. To date, CARD Bank is serving more than 2.7 million clients with total assets of 15.3 billion and 99.26% repayment rate.