BDO Unibank Inc. plans to open up 100 to 120 branches in the near term as more Filipinos in the provinces start earning higher incomes.

BDO president and chief executive officer Nestor Tan said 80 percent of the new branches will operate under BDO Network Bank, the bank's rural lending arm, and cater to the underserved Filipinos.

With confidence, he said the new branches will help drive BDO's profit growth but more importantly, the national economic growth.

Undeserved sector not poor

“Growth in the Philippines will come from the underserved sector. The underserved are not poor; they just don't have a bank," Tan said in the bank's recent annual stockholders meeting at Conrad, Pasay City.

He said the remaining 20 percent of the new branches will run under BDO's commercial banking business.

"The rest will be in areas of municipalities that have grown to a certain economic level and need more sophisticated products," Tan said.

Based on a study by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, he said 25 percent of over 1,000 municipalities in the country do not have a single branch of a formal bank.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the economy of regions outside Metro Manila grew faster last year.

Central Visayas registers fastest growth

Central Visayas registered the fastest growth of 6.2 percent in terms of economic output per person or the market value of the goods or services each individual produces.

This is followed by the Caraga region, which posted 5.8 percent, and Central Luzon with 5.6 percent.

Sy-owned BDO grew its consolidated profit in the first three months by 7 percent to P19.7 billion compared to the same period in 2024. The growth reflected higher gross customer loans at 12 percent to P3.3 trillion.