Copyright bworldonline
SALMON BANK (Rural Bank), Inc., owned by financial technology company Salmon Group Ltd, is looking to increase its capitalization to fund its growth as it seeks to apply for a thrift banking license next year. “So, we continue to be preparing ourselves to apply for a thrift bank next year. In terms of capital, we’re already there. We meet the minimum capital required for a thrift bank. But we want to make sure we complete the key investments in people and in technology before we apply,” Salmon Co-founder and Director and Salmon Bank Chairperson Raffy Montemayor said at a briefing on Wednesday. The bank plans to inject an additional P600 million in fresh funding before the year ends and another P600 million next year, which would bring its total equity to P2 billion from P1.4 billion as of end-September. “And if the bank grows faster, then we’ll inject more. So, it’s really dependent on the growth we’re seeing,” Mr. Montemayor said. This will be used to fund the bank’s aggressive expansion, he said. Salmon Co-Founder Pavel Fedorov said he expects the bank to double its key financial metrics every six to nine months. “I don’t know how long we’re gonna stick with that, but the reality is that we’ll be doubling every six to nine months, and we expect to keep on doubling every six to nine months in terms of key financing and operating methods for the foreseeable future,” he said, adding that this includes the bank’s profitability. Mr. Montemayor said the bank booked a net income of P189 million in the first eight months of 2025. They expect strong growth in both deposits and loans, he said. “There’s so much room for growth. I think just to give you a sense, there’s a rough estimate of 175,000 retail stores in the Philippines. And our product loan, which is roughly 60% of our loan portfolio, we’re present at 5,000 stores. We expect to roughly double that by next year.” Salmon Bank had P1.6 billion in loans at end-September, more than double the P691 million booked in the same period last year. Meanwhile, deposits were at P1.77 billion in deposits, surging from P522.1 million a year ago. Deposit growth will be driven by its customer base expansion as the rural lender plans to launch more products and online services and open new branches next year, Mr. Montemayor said. He added that Salmon Bank applied for an advanced Electronic Payment and Financial Services (EPFS) license from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in August. Financial institutions must get an EPFS license to offer products and services via digital channels. An advanced license allows them to enable fund transfers and bills payment, among others, in addition to basic functions like balance inquiry. — A.M.C. Sy
