PHILIPPINE Veterans Bank (PVB) is pushing for digitalization and boardroom changes. These initiatives, among others, will advance financial inclusion, its chair and CEO said.
“The entire banking sector of the Philippines is strengthening itself… by making it easier to transact and making it easier to push for financial inclusion and being able to provide financial resources that the public needs,” Bankero, PVB Chairman and CEO Roberto de Ocampo said last Saturday.
Financial inclusion is a term that refers to the availability and equality of opportunities to access financial services including banking, loan, equity, and insurance products.
To further raise professionalism and integrity, the bank’s implementation of “Draconian” measures to upgrade the bank’s systems will extend to the board level, de Ocampo said. The CEO expects that these will make PVB a “serious financial entity.”
The bank primarily caters to veterans of the Philippine military and their families, active soldiers, and other uniformed personnel. The bank, which de Ocampo described as a “monument to our heroes who fought for our liberty and guerillas who fought in World War 2,” had been shut down several times previously for mismanagement.
The bank made amendments to its charter during the pandemic, according to the CEO.
Then-President Rodrigo Duterte approved changes to the bank’s charter by signing Republic Act 11597 on Dec. 10, 2021. Changes included an increase in PVB’s capitalization from P100 million to P10 billion, and a larger board, from 11 to 15, among others.
