China Bank Savings (CBS) plans to open five more branches following continued growth in its loan portfolio to P143 billion in the first quarter of the year and its goal to double its profit in the next five years.

CBS President James Christian Dee said the new branches will be located in the Visayas and Mindanao areas and will open in the third quarter or early fourth quarter of the year.

Since CBS started operations in 2008, the thrift bank has been managing 170 branches and 107 lending centers and branch-lite units.

Dee said the thrift bank is targeting a 20 percent loan growth for this year compared to 2024.

This was after CBS' disclosure to investors showed 21 percent loan growth last year to P135.5 billion compared to the level in 2023 due to strong demand for teachers, auto, and housing loans. For the first quarter of 2025, its loan portfolio expanded to P143 billion, resulting in 23 percent growth in net income of P566 million.

CBS Head of Marketing Services and Sustainability Warren De Guzman is confident that opportunities for loan growth still abound despite the entry of new players in thrift banking, including BDO Network Bank, which is also owned by the Sy family and recently transformed from a rural bank.

"There's still a huge market out there that is unbanked, particularly in the provinces. That's why we want to expand and that's why we welcome the entry of new reputable players to help service the unbanked," he said.

More SME support

CBS expects higher activities among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) amid robust household consumption of goods and services under a low-inflation environment.

"Inflation is now at its lowest level since 2019," Dee said.

"We do remain concerned on what higher Trump's tariffs mean for the Philippine manufacturing, but we also remain confident in the Philippine government's ability to bolster local industries," he added.

CBS Chairman Ricardo Chua said the country's strong employment data will further whip up consumers' appetite for spending.

"We have a very young population, everybody wants to work, everybody wants to be productive," he said.

The bank's net non-performing loans ratio improved to 1.59 percent in the first quarter of 2025 from 1.62 percent in the same quarter of last year.

With CBS' Environmental and Social Risk Resilience Tool for SMEs, Dee said SME loans could also grow as these businesses reduce long-term financial losses from climate change and attract clients that also envision a greener and more livable environment.

"We do want to integrate this in our business portfolio. SME is our third largest section in terms of loans. We actually reduced the size of our SME from earlier years, but now we're going on a U-turn to a growth trajectory," he said.

The new tool helps SMEs determine environmental and social risks relevant to their nature of business and the severity of the impact if the risks are not managed.

"The tool offers a clear and regulatory-aligned process, transforming data into actionable insights," CBS said.

The environmental tool was co-developed with Deloitte Philippines and is planned to be launched within this year.