MABS PB GM Bank Inc. held the blessing and inaugural of its new corporate headquarters on February 27. The bank moved its corporate office from a 2-story building in the interior municipality of Munoz, Nueva Ecija to Cabanatuan City, which is a more strategic location, being the melting pot and most progressive city in Nueva Ecija.
BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr., United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of Economic Governance Chief Christian Hougen, USAID Project Management Specialist Teresita Espenilla, and MABS Chief of Party John Owens, and local government unit officials were among the inaugural’s guests of honor.
GM Bank, Inc., a MABS PB since 2004, is a result of the merger between two community rural banks – CRB of Guimba, Nueva Ecija and CRB of Munoz, Nueva Ecija. In December 2004, CRB Guimba and Munoz merged and took on the name GM Bank, Inc. The bank is one of the billionaire rural banks in the Philippines today, with total assets of PhP1.5 Billion as of December 2008. It has 27 branches and 2 loan collection and disbursement points spread all over Central Luzon and the nearby province of Pangasinan. The bank joined the MABS program in 2004 after completing the MABS Approach to Microfinance Training and Technical Services and piloted an individual microfinance loan product at its Gerona Branch in Tarlac. Today, the Individual microfinance loan product is being implemented in 12 branches. As of December 2008, highlights of the bank’s microfinance portfolio include over 47,000 cumulative individual micro loans disbursed (since 2004) totaling more than PhP451 million, total group and individual active loan clients exceeding 13,000 with an overall active microfinance loan portfolio of more than PhP76 million as of December 2008.
