Philippines, September, 08 2014 - In a circular, the central bank approved 101 applications from universal and commercial banks, 54 from thrift banks, and 46 from rural and cooperative banks.

The applications were intended for regular branches, regular other banking offices, extension offices, microbanking offices, and an offshore banking unit.

A regular other banking office refers to one that only undertakes non-transactional banking-related activities such as marketing, customer care services, and acceptance of loan applications, while a microbanking office provides transactional activities for microfinance clients such as loans, deposits, microinsurance, collection or payout of benefits from government, among others.

Banks are given six months to open said branches from the date of approval. However, they may be given an extension of another six months to do so under certain circumstances.

At the same time, the central bank said there were 112 banking offices opened in the second quarter.

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These were made up of 66 branches owned by universal and commercial banks, 28 from thrift banks, and 18 from rural and cooperative banks.

According to kind, the offices included regular branches, a representative office abroad, extension offices, regular other banking offices, and microbanking offices.

The BSP earlier this year said local banks have been aggressively expanding inside the National Capital Region, key cities outside the capital, and into different provinces in preparation for the regional banking integration eyed by 2020.

Banks have been raising capital and extending their reach to different markets in order to better compete with banks from other countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations that may enter the Philippines.