BDO Unibank Inc., the country's largest lender by asset size, wants to bring its services closer to small-time businesses and customers in unserved and underserved areas by opening more branches through its community banking arm, BDO Network Bank.

"I think the new branches will be on [the] BDO Network Bank to focus on the needs of the MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises)," Frederico Rafael Ocampo, BDO senior vice president and chief investment officer, told The Manila Times.

"That's my understanding of the game plan. All [the new branches will be] in the Philippines," he said in a recent interview.

While the plan appears to run counter to the current push toward digitalization, Ocampo emphasized that reaching out to clients in provincial areas "has been the foundation of our growth."

With a mission to provide Filipinos with accessible and dependable financial support, BDO Network offers loans, deposits, cash management, remittances, and bills payment services.

Based on the latest available data on its website, the community bank is currently operating more than 330 branches and loan offices across the Philippines.

As of end-February 2024, BDO had the largest distribution network in the country, with more than 1,700 consolidated branches and over 4,800 automated teller machines nationwide.

"BDO has made investing convenient, affordable and efficient. It used to be expensive to go offshore, but now you can go to our branches. We have global feeder funds," Ocampo explained in English and Filipino.

Asked about the bank's targets this year, the BDO executive said they were eyeing double-digit growth and continuous improvements across businesses.

"When you look at the historical data, it's true that we have posted double digits every year. That's our marching order; we will continue to grow by double digits," he added.

"Those targets are there to guide us. Because everybody works hard, we're able to surpass those targets, even the targets set by the broker."

BDO saw its net income in 2023 expand by 38.5 percent to P73.4 billion from P57.1 billion a year earlier on the robust performance of its core businesses.

The bank is the financial services arm of the Sy family-led SM Investment Investments Corp. (SMIC).

BDO's share price rose 0.85 percent to P154 on Friday.

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