BDO Network Bank gets thrift bank license

BDO NETWORK Bank, Inc. has received the green light for its conversion into a thrift bank, its parent said on Tuesday.

“We wish to inform you that effective today, May 5, 2025, BDO Network Bank, Inc., a subsidiary of BDO Unibank, Inc., has secured all required regulatory approvals for its conversion from a rural bank to a thrift bank,” BDO said in a disclosure to the stock exchange.

“With its newly granted thrift bank license, BDO Network Bank is set to widen its reach and deepen its impact — especially in areas still underserved by traditional financial institutions,” the unit said in a statement on BDO’s website dated April 28.

BDO Network Bank, formerly One Network Bank, Inc., was the biggest rural lender in the country in terms of assets as of end-2024 with P124.05 billion. BDO took over One Network Bank in 2015 in a transaction valued at P6.7 billion.

Based on end-2024 data from the central bank, upon its license’s conversion, BDO Network Bank would be among the top five biggest thrift banks in the country as only four other lenders in the sector currently have assets above P100 billion.

The bank posted a net income of P884.4 million in 2023, down 22% from P1.134 billion in 2022, based on its annual report. It had 393 branches, 121 loan offices, and 431 automated teller machines at end-2023.

BDO Network Bank President Jesus Antonio S. Itchon said last year that the bank expected to end 2024 with a total of 560 to 570 branches.

Meanwhile, its listed parent BDO’s net income rose by 6.49% year on year to P19.7 billion in the first quarter on the back of the sustained performance of its core businesses.

BDO was the largest Philippine bank in terms of assets with P4.67 trillion at end-2024.

Its shares dropped by 90 centavos or 0.57% to end at P157.50 apiece on Tuesday. — A.M.C. Sy