FOUNDED by one of the champions of Republic Act 720 – or the original Rural Banking Act of 1952 – and one of the pioneers of the rural banking industry, the late Atty. Lorenzo Miravite, the Rural Bank of Cabatuan (RBC) – Iloilo, Inc. celebrated 51 years of service to the people of Cabatuan and Iloilo on July 7, commemorating five decades as one of the most prestigious and trusted establishments in the region.
With the tagline “Leveling up @ 51,” RBC is ramping up its services to a new level of excellence as it expands further, banking on the expertise of its pool of professionals and the potential for rapid growth in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations market, as ASEAN integration opens the Philippines’ doors to more foreign investors.
expands further, banking on the expertise of its pool of professionals.
“The Rural Bank of Cabatuan seeks to professionalize rural banking in the region, and we hope to be No. 1 in this part of the country with the experts and commercial bankers we are bringing in,” RBC executive director and COO Nonito Baldeviso, CPA, REB, REA, MBA told Panay News, relating that most other rural banks in Iloilo are run by family businesses, and may be prone to mismanagement.
As a respected commercial banker with over 30 years of experience in the industry – being a former assistant vice president of the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) and a past head of the UCPB Savings Bank and UCPB Rural Bank – Baldeviso hopes to lead the Rural Bank of Cabatuan to new frontiers.
Since the Miravite family ceded the control of the bank in January 2017, RBC has seen its deposits double and its loans grow five-fold under the leadership of Baldeviso.
Bank of Cabatuan on July 7.
“In the last year alone, our deposits have grown almost 100 percent, our loans by 500 percent. We have grown into a very profitable bank with a record larger monthly income,” the banker shares, highlighting the role the colleagues and former industry partners he has brought in to help develop and expand the company, all decorated commercial bankers with plenty of expertise.
From a rural bank catering to mostly agricultural loans – Cabatuan being one of the top producers of cash crops in the region – RBC has bolstered its operations to also offer housing loans, business loans, OFW loans, and much more.
Sharing that their main client base is small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and budding businessmen, Baldeviso says that their edge against their competition is the ease and speed by which they can process and approve commercial loans.
“Commercial loans will take at least three weeks in other banks, with us, we can process your loan in two or three days as long as the requirements are complete,” related Baldeviso, highlighting that RBC understands the value of a businessman’s time.
Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program and differently-abled individuals in the municipality.
By the end of the year, Baldeviso and RBC hope to buy and incorporate three or four other rural banks in the province with the aid of Malaysian investors – with the Rural Bank of Cabatuan as the lead bank – and establish their corporate headquarters at Casa Plaza in Iloilo City Proper across the Iloilo Provincial Capitol. RBC also plans to open a micro-lending arm at the Iloilo Central Market and a new branch at Barotac Nuevo, the hometown of Baldeviso’s parents, in the near future.
RBC has an ongoing deposit campaign letting clients enjoy higher returns of up to 4.25 percent per annum and a free smart phone with a minimum special savings account of between P300,000 to P500,000.
Congratulations to the Rural Bank of Cabatuan for 51 years of excellence in the rural banking industry! Here’s to your growth and prosperity!/PN
