Bangko Kabayan History & Profile

Ibaan Rural Bank, Inc. was established on August 19, 1957 by Mr. Bienvenido M. Medrano  and the then newly-retired Auditor General Manuel M. Agregado,  with the vision of becoming of service to the people  Ibaan, Batangas by providing reasonably-priced credit, particularly to small merchants , farmers and traders in the community. Wanting to spread the benefits of what he believed would be a profitable business, he invited relatives and townmates to invest in IRB in whatever capacity they had. A year later, another prominent investor joined IRB in the person of retired Supreme Court Justice Roman Ozaeta.

With the end-goal of uplifting the quality of life of the people in the countryside, IRB participated in all the government programs aimed at providing credit to the rural population. Like most rural banks, IRB in its early years operated largely with rediscounting funds from the Central Bank. But aside from the usual savings and loan services, Ibaan Rural Bank also pioneered the use of the checking account as early as 1967. Its founding fathers being progressive businessmen themselves (Mr. Medrano served as one of the youngest presidents of the Phil. Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and was a founding father and board member of Far East Bank), they appreciated the importance of providing this service, to further develop the budding SME sector in Batangas then.

Upon the entry of the second generation of the original founding fathers, there was a move towards placing IRB in a  premiere position in the RB industry. Human resource development was given priority and the first Vision and Mission of IRB was crafted. Inspired by the Economy of Communion proposed by Chiara Lubich of the Focolare Movement , IRB embarked on an expansion program to be able to make an impact, both as an employer and as a rural-based financial conduit. Deposit generation became a thrust, in order to wean itself away from the Central Bank and develop its capacity to operate as a stable rural bank.  From 1991 to 1996, eight branches were established in various municipalities of Batangas – Calaca, Cuenca, Mabini, Nasugbu, Rosario, San Jose, San Juan and San Pascual.

When the bank celebrated its 40th anniversary, it adopted the business name Bangko Kabayan with the strong will to be of service not only to Batanguenos but to other communities in the countryside outside of the Batangas Province. It is also during that year that the IRB Foundation was established, funded out of the bank’s profits, with the purpose of undertaking micro-credit and scholarship programs for the poor and sponsoring community-building seminars.
 
Bangko Kabayan sought to respond to the needs of a population severely affected by the financial crisis of 1997 by embarking on microfinance lending, in order to reach out to an even greater number of clients in the countryside. The bank still continues to improve the quality of its products and services to better serve its ever-growing number of clients, now numbering more than 50,000.
 
Bangko Kabayan is a multi-awarded rural bank and with resources of over a billion pesos, ranks among the top 3% of rural banks in the Philippines today.