The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) approved just five new regular or full bank branches in the second quarter, same as in the previous quarter, while the number of branch-lite units continued to grow.
BSP Deputy Governor Chuchi G. Fonacier said in a circular letter that from April to June, the central bank has approved only one thrift regular branch and four rural bank regular branches. None of the universal and commercial banks applied for a new regular branch.
The BSP also approved 34 branch-lite units during the second quarter.
The difference between regular branches and branch-lite units is that the latter have limited banking activities but could provide a wide range of products and services suited for servicing the needs of the market except for sophisticated clients with aggressive risk tolerance. Meantime regular branches are full-sized banks, mostly traditional brick and mortar branches or contained within a building and offers full banking services.
For the second quarter, the BSP approved 34 branch-lite units, of which three are owned by big banks, 27 are by thrift banks and four by rural banks. During the period, 19 regular bank branches were opened while 47 branch-lite units also started its operations.
There were also two digital bank head offices that were opened in the second quarter.
Of the 19 regular bank branches that started operations recently, 13 are rural banks, five are thrift banks and only one big bank.
The rural banking sector also opened 28 branch-lite units in the second quarter, while thrift banks opened 15 and big banks have four new branch-lite units.
Based on the latest BSP data as of end-October, the 45 big banks operate 7,179 branches and offices across the country.
The 43 thrift banks, meanwhile, have 2,753 branches and offices while the 404 rural and cooperative banks have 3,454.