CitySavings intensifies expansion in Luzon

MANILA, Philippines - CitySavings, a thrift bank owned by the Aboitiz group, is intensifying its expansion program in Luzon.

Harry Abellana, CitySavings assistant vice president for marketing, said they have been trying to saturate areas where they could serve more clients.

CitySavings opened an extension office in Dagupan City in the province of Pangasinan. This will be its 32nd branch nationwide and the fifth in Luzon.

The newly-established branch in Dagupan will also be CitySavings’ second branch in the Ilocos Region. 

 “We’re here because we’re ready to let our customers experience and enjoy the CitySavings brand of warm and helpful service, and we’re all excited for this,” Abellana said.

Abellana said they are eyeing to keep a niche market. “We want to tap more public school teachers across the country and let them experience our brand of simple and helpful banking,” he said.

CitySavings is primarily engaged in offering loans to schoolteachers, the bank’s main market since it opened 47 years ago.

After Dagupan, the Aboitiz-owned thrift bank will be branching out to other key locations in Pangasinan, which has one of the highest populations of public school teachers, to cover the market. 

He said CitySavings’s expansion plans also include opening at least five more branches in Northern, Central and Southern Luzon and in the Bicol region to be able to serve more of CitySavings’ target market, 50 percent of whom are based in Luzon.

The Dagupan extension office is expected to serve over 13,000 teachers from Lingayen and Binalonan in Pangasinan.  

It offers salary loans through the Automatic Payroll Deduction System (APDS) to teachers and employees of the Department of Education, with terms ranging from 12 to 36 months.