CARD Bank opens 89th branch, celebrates 21st anniversary

CARD Bank, Inc. is now ready to serve its growing microfinance clients in San Pablo as it opened its 89th branch in Barleta St., San Pablo City, Laguna on September 3, 2018. This is the third branch opened by the bank in the city, which also coincides to its 21st anniversary celebration.

“Since 1997, CARD Bank has never fallen short in realizing its commitment of reaching more unbanked Filipinos nationwide. We are happy because the bank is now providing financial services and development-oriented programs to more than 2.5 million clients nationwide and we are very grateful for the 21 fruitful years,” said President and CEO Marivic M. Austria.

Commitment to excellence

CARD Bank has been recognized by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) as one of the outstanding financial inclusion champions in the country. Recently, CARD Bank received such award during the 2018 Awards Ceremony and Appreciation Lunch for BSP Stakeholders.

“This is the fruit of all our labor. I always thank the unwavering support of the CARD MRI Group and our advisers and the commitment of the management, staff, and our clients because all these achievements would not be possible without them,” added Austria.

Excellence is one of the core values of CARD MRI. “These core values are our guide in making sure that we are always on the right track,” emphasized Austria.

Moreover, CARD Bank also took pride to be the first in the Philippine microfinance industry to utilize the Core Banking Services (CBS). From the traditional banking system, CARD Bank now engages its clients in mobile banking through its konek2CARD mobile application.

“We at CARD Bank always ensure that we go with the trend. That is why we keep on innovating and investing in IT infrastructure because going digital is the new direction of the banking institutions,” said Austria.

According to CARD Bank’s chairperson, Dr. Jaime Aristotle B. Alip, investing in technologies will enable MFIs to serve its market better. “As new technologies can bring transaction costs down, service delivery costs will become lower as well. Since the cost of service for the clients will decrease, MFIs can either offer lower interest rates or increase their community development services,” added Alip.

CARD Bank hopes to open more branches to reach more unbanked communities in the Philippines. “We can see that the future of our clients is bright with our services powered by technology,” assured Austria.

To date, the bank has a total asset of P13.96 billion and 99.37% repayment rate among its operation nationwide.