NRBSL was granted authority to operate as a rural bank on 25 May 1994 under Monetary Board Resolution No 501 (dated 11 June 1993). In June 1994, NRBSL commenced operation in the municipality of San Leonardo, province of Nueva Ecija, Central Luzon. After establishing itself year after year as a professionally-run and highly-rated rural bank, NRBSL has unceasingly served the interest of the enterprising poor, finding ways and means to improve their plight and help develop sustainable communities.

NRBSL was conceived by pathfinding development practitioners from the nonprofit, non-government, and professional banking sectors whose hearts and minds have long been for the poor and their deliverance from the circle of poverty. Through the trust and financial assistance of the Interchurch Organization for Development Cooperation (ICCO), a Netherlands-based development financing agency, the intrepid founders of NRBSL found themselves treading an untrodden path - establishing a bank for the poor.

At the helm of making operational and viable this pro-poor bank, is Mr. Andres G. Panganiban, the first CEO and president of NRBSL. Mr. Panganiban was both a former top executive of the Chase Manhattan Bank and a development advocate, bringing together the perfect combination of professional management experience and banking expertise with genuine sense of service for the disenfranchised and marginalized sectors of the society. With the emergence of NRBSL, rural banking was never the same again.