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Step Up Facilitates Pioneer Bank’s First Comprehensive Strategic Planning Session

Pioneer Bank (A Rural Bank), Inc., formerly known as the Rural Bank of Loboc, marked a significant milestone in its institutional development with the successful conduct of its Planning Workshop in November 2025. Facilitated by Step Up, the intensive session signaled the bank’s transition toward a more structured and forward-looking approach to growth, in line with its mandate to provide localized financial services under the regulatory framework of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

The workshop served as a technical forum that aligned Pioneer Bank’s institutional direction with the evolving economic landscape of the region. Participants undertook a rigorous validation of the bank’s vision and mission to ensure that its core values remained consistent with its long-term objectives.

To develop a data-driven roadmap, the leadership conducted an extensive environmental scan using PESTLE and SWOT analyses, enabling them to assess both external market conditions and internal operational capacities and to identify the key strategic issues that will shape the bank’s direction over the next five years.

The primary output of the session was the formulation of Strategic Goals for 2026–2031, which were translated into concrete Strategic Initiatives and detailed Action Plans. Bank officials emphasized that the planning exercise goes beyond compliance requirements, serving instead as a blueprint for strengthening community service delivery and institutional sustainability.

The consolidated outputs of the workshop will form the core of Pioneer Bank’s 2026–2031 Strategic Plan, reflecting a proactive shift toward modernized rural banking and a stronger contribution to sustainable regional development and financial inclusion in Bohol.

mikocanares Business Planning, Capacity Building, Consulting Services, core expertise, Core services, Facilitation, Financial Management, Governance

Step Up Assists Rural Bank of Loboc

Board and staff of the Rural Bank of Loboc during the business strategy workshop.
Board and staff of the Rural Bank of Loboc during the business strategy workshop.

After five successful and profitable years of operation, the Rural Bank of Loboc, Inc. has grown in an unprecedented pace and achieved a set of financial indicators that speak of the bank’s operational sustainability. To revisit its directions and chart a new set of goals to 2020, the Board of Directors hired Step Up Consulting to facilitate the process to assist them in looking at their bank operations and plan for the next six years.

As a culminating event,  a workshop was held at the bank’s office in Loboc, Bohol on 9 November 2014. The workshop was attended by 5 of its board of directors, one bank consultant, and all members of the staff. The workshop resulted to a strategic plan that the Board will pursue to 2020.

The Rural Bank of Loboc was conceptualized in early 2004 as a major component of The Grand Dreams for the Development of Loboc. This dream, which served as a guide for the administration of Mayor Calipusan, focused on key priority areas labeled as LITHOPE – which stands for livelihood, infrastructure, tourism, health, organizational strengthening, peace and order, and education.  The idea then was to revive a previous proposal of converting the credit cooperative into a rural bank to finance development initiatives in the municipality.  If this would not work, it was planned that local Lobocanons will be organized to set up a bank that would serve the town’s financing needs for agriculture, small and medium-scale enterprises, and other productive activities, with the end view of promoting economic growth and development of Loboc and the economic empowerment of the Lobocanons. The second route was decided as the most viable option.

To date, the Rural Bank of Loboc serves the financing needs of the town of Loboc and nearby municipalities.