BancNet, the country’s largest electronic banking consortium announced that its stockholders, at their annual meeting recently, elected the members of its board of directors for the term 2011-2012.
Re-elected were: Luz Blanco (Metrobank), Robert Blas (Citibank), Pedro David, Jr.(Allied Bank), Abigail Del Rosario (Standard Chartered Bank), George Castro (Philtrust Bank), Ricardo Chua (China Bank), Lance Martinez (HSBC), Vilma Noche (Chinatrust Bank), Roberto Reyes (PBCom), Ismael Sandig (RCBC), Gerardo Susmerano (East West Bank), and Daniel Yu (Security Bank), while Elizabeth Coronel (Equicom Savings Bank), Angelito Evangelista (Robinsons Bank), and Wilfredo Rodriguez, Jr. (Asia United Bank) were elected as new directors.
Also re-elected were two members of the advisory board namely: Carmelita Araneta (Bank of Commerce) and Jesus Vicente Garcia (Veterans Bank).
During their organizational meeting that followed, the directors elected Ricardo Chua as chairman, Abigail Del Rosario as vice chairperson, Robert Blas as president, Ismael Sandig as treasurer, Juan Coreces as corporate secretary, and Elmarie Reyes as assistant corporate secretary.
Chua is executive vice president and chief operating officer at China Bank, a founding member of BancNet. He has been serving BancNet since its inception in various capacities, including as chairman of the board for the past three years and as vice chairman previously.
Blas is vice president of Information Technology at Citibank and has represented the bank in BancNet’s board of directors since 2001. He has been with BancNet’s Technical Committee since 1991, also representing Citi, and served as the committee’s chairman for many years.
In his report to the stockholders, Blas cited BancNet’s 14% growth in total switched ATM transaction volume which reached 328.16 million in 2010. Total revenues in turn increased, from P152.94 million in 2009 to P191.42 million in 2010. Likewise, net income rose to P51.61 million.
Blas also reported that the consortium’s membership expanded to a total of 65 financial institutions and affiliate switch networks as of yearend 2010 with the entry of new members Bank of Commerce, Philippine Veterans Bank, CARD Bank, Rural Bank of Tanza, Sta. Cruz Savings and Development Cooperative, Cantilan Bank, Saviour Rural Bank, and Tayabas Multi-Purpose Cooperative.
Blas further reported that BancNet solidified its status as the largest ATM network in the country with total ATMs reaching 4,598 nationwide.
“Moreover, our ATM cardholder base has grown to 9.96 million cardholders as of end 2010, a huge 18.69% increase from 8.39 cardholders in 2009.”
“Our payment terminals at point of sale (POS) increased to 14,167, up by 24% and merchant sites increased by 30% to 3,593. We interconnected our POS system with those of Expressnet and Megalink, enabling our cardholders to pay with their ATM cards at any of the 20,000 accredited establishments nationwide,” Blas added.
For the year 2011 and beyond, Blas said the consortium is looking to investing further in its outsourcing business as more banks avail themselves of its outsourcing services, to linking up with other international ATM networks, and to upgrading its main ATM switch, among other plans.
“We will continue to look at other innovative ways to provide new and even groundbreaking electronic banking services to make banking easier for our customers,” Blas stressed.
