FICCO Cooperative to establish network of coop banks

FICCO Cooperative to establish network of 18 coop bank branches

DAVAO CITY -- The First Community Cooperative (Ficco) based in Cagayan de Oro City is establishing a network of banks in areas where it has a strong presence.

Vicente B. Rana, Ficco chief executive officer, said his group is only awaiting the approval of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas before it will launch its rural banks.

The cooperative has acquired three small banks from the Cooperative Bank of Davao del Sur, the Cooperative Bank of Surigao del Sur and the Cooperative Bank of Misamis Oriental.

The banks will operate under the name Southern Philippines Cooperative Bank. “We want to grow our banking units to better serve our members,” Mr. Rana told BusinessWorld.

The cooperative is planning to set up 18 bank branches within the next two years, said Jesus G. Cornito, a member of the cooperative’s board of directors.

The banks will complement Ficco’s main business, which is 90% lending.

“With the banks, we can serve even those that are not members of the cooperative,” he explained.

Lending at an 8.5% interest annually, the two officials claimed this will result in more members and more business.

“The cooperative will be in a better position to expand,” Mr. Corinto added, referring to the plan to enter both the Visayas and the Makati City markets.

Mr. Rana added the expansion plan is intended to address the need for a cheaper lending window, particularly for borrowers who have long been clients of usurers who ask for up to 20% monthly interest rates on day-to-day collection basis.

The expansion, particularly the setting up of banking units, he added, will also help address the need for microfinance borrowers to become members of a strong cooperative as well as provide them with cheaper loans that will help them grow their businesses.

The Mindanao Business Council earlier pointed out that even with current government financial packages, small businesses still find it difficult to borrow.

Ficco has total resources amounting to over P3 billion and a capital base of about P1.3 billion in the first quarter of 2009. It was among the first cooperatives established in Mindanao. Ficco was established by Jesuit priest William Masterson as the Ateneo Cooperative Credit Union in July 1954 in Cagayan de Oro City.

Ficco currently has 56 cooperative offices all over Mindanao and a membership of about 150,000. -- Carmelito Q. Francisco

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