TACLOBAN CITY, April 26 (PNA) -- Eastern Visayas
remains to be one of the underbanked region in the country with 75 percent of
towns have no bank offices, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
Out of 140 towns in six provinces, only 33 areas
have operating banks as listed in the BSP website. In contrast, banking
penetration is high in seven cities and two capital towns.
Of the 33 towns in the region with operating banks,
two are in Biliran province, six in Eastern Samar, 15 in Leyte, six in Southern
Leyte, and four in Samar.
Northern Samar, the farthest province from the
regional capital is the most underbanked in the region with 22 out of 25 towns
having no access to banking services.
No BSP official from field office here is available
for interview this week when reached for comments about the report.
Bank of the Philippine Island Tacloban main branch
manager Francisco Barredo said that high banking penetration was expected in
cities because of large population.
“With the recovery of agriculture after super
typhoon 'Yolanda' in 2013, we have to spread the good effects of economy to the
countryside by advocating for bank expansion in provinces,” said Barredo, also
the banking sector representative to the Regional Development Council.
Barredo supports the promotion of micro-financing
in unbanked and underbanked areas for people to gain access to financial
services.
The Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation
reported that bank deposits in Eastern Visayas grew by 11.23 percent to
PHP94.61 billion last year.
Bank deposits in this region managed to maintain
its double-digit annual growth rate in the past four years despite impacts of
the 2013 monster typhoon that worsened the region’s poverty incidence.
The growth concentration is still in Tacloban and
other cities, according to Barredo.
Out of 206 banks in the region as of end of last
year, 45 are in Tacloban. The city’s PHP36.74 billion deposit portfolio
accounts 39 percent of the regional total.(Sarwell Q. Meniano/PNA)
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