CARD Bank, Inc. resumes operations in Tacloban
When typhoon Yolanda exited the country, it left houses and establishments in Tacloban City to shreds. Banks especially cannot operate. Three weeks later, CARD Bank Tacloban Branch was able to immediately resume its normal operation. On the first day, a total of 28 clients were served wherein most of them withdrew from their savings account. It also humbled the management that there are clients who insist on paying their loans despite approved loan moratorium.
The resumption of bank transactions was driven by the CARD Bank management’s determination to continue its services as provided in the Bank’s Business Continuity Plan.
“We are very thankful to the management on the fast assistance for the recovery of Tacloban Branch. For now, we all know that the area has a crisis in electricity but solar equipment, generators, and gasoline which were facilitated by the head office to reach us sustained the operation.”, said Juanito Dela Cueva, Regional Director of CARD Bank Tacloban. Strong manpower support from the head office was also sent to Tacloban City to assist them to resume normal operation.
Aside from banking services, CARD Bank Tacloban also continuously do relief distribution together with the other member institutions of CARD MRI. CARD MBA, Inc. and CARD MRI Insurance Agency (CaMIA) continue to pay insurance claims of members.
According to the manager of CARD Bank Tacloban, Sherwin Garcia, they, together with one of the Assistant Vice President of CARD Bank Gaudencio Mendoza and Regional Director Dela Cueva, Unit Managers and Account Officers, visit the different villages to inform them that the bank is now fully operating.
It is expected that with the information drive done by the managers and staff, clients served per day will continue to increase, a sign that Tacloban is now starting to rise from the tragedy.
It is also with the support of the Bankers Association of Tacloban that CARD Bank Tacloban was able to operate. Currently, few banks are fully operating in Tacloban. Most of them are operating in limited hours and with financial transaction limit per day. Full support of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas thru the release of circular 2013-050: Regulatory Relief for Banks affected by Typhoon Yolanda and circular 2013-052: Temporary Relaxation of the implementation of the KYC requirements hastens the speedy resumption of the bank operation and establishment of rehabilitation strategy.
CARD Bank, Inc. had been operating in Tacloban since 2008 with almost 14,000 clients served.