PNB sets P3B capex

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine National Bank (PNB) has alloted P3 billion for its capital expenditures this year, with more than half of the budget going to information technology upgrade in a bid to streamline operations and meet the ever-growing needs of its customers.

PNB executive vice president and CFO Nelson Reyes said the bank invested significantly in new core banking and a new mobile banking platform as well as other financial technology applications to remain competitive in the sector.

Digitalizing bank operations generally reduces operating costs while speeding up services. It likewise opens new opportunities for introducing more products for PNB’s over four million individual depositors.

The adoption of mobile technology, digitalization, and even the choice of product endorsers were dictated by the country’s young working population, which is reported to be the youngest in the region.

The Lucio Tan-owned bank wants each of its individual bank clients to get hold of three to five products offered in its 670-branch network.

PNB aims to sustain its double-digit growth in loans or similar to the 18 percent recorded in the first three months of the year.

To achieve this, the bank is “establishing partnerships with various merchants and retailers to compliment the mobile platforms, such as point-of-sale (POS) terminals suitable to its core banking platform,” Reyes said.

So far, loan portfolio mix still favored the corporate sector accounting for 54 percent, followed by the commercial sector with 27 percent, the consumer or retail sector (18 percent), and the government or public sector (10 percent).