Philippine Postal Savings Bank joins MCPI as associate member

What is now known as the Philippine Postal Savings Bank (Postbank) used to be Postal Savings Bank, a division of the Bureau of Posts. It was established in 1906 to bring banking services to the rural areas and to enable the Philippine government to tap savings in the countryside.

The breakdown of the banking system in the 1940s due to the Japanese occupation interrupted Postbank’s operation. Services resumed after the war in 1946 and rapid growth was observed by the bank. However, shortly after Martial Law was declared, then President Ferdinand Marcos decided to close Postbank in 1973 on the ground that it was unduly competing with private thrift banks.

In 1992, when the Bureau of Post became an autonomous chartered corporation and was renamed Philippine Postal Corporation (PHLPOST), it re-established Postbank as a wholly-owned subsidiary. Postbank was formally re-opened by President Fidel Ramos in 1994 but it was not until a new management took over following the assumption of President Benigno Simeon Aquino III that Postbank once again experienced steady growth.

Postbank now has 25 branches nationwide. It provides wholesale loans to microfinance institutions and offers domestic and international remittance services. In pursuit of its vision to become the government’s authentic countryside development bank, Postbank’s Microfinance Banking Office (MBO) program has opened up microbanking facilities in selected postal and local government unit offices in the unbanked and underserved municipalities throughout the country. Through the MBO, Postbank hopes to contribute its share towards achieving the government’s major objective of inclusive growth. MBOs mobilize savings; provide microfinancing to individuals; and extend credit to LGUs to finance the delivery of basic services specifically water, renewable energy, health and sanitation.