For about fifty (50) years, prior to the enactment of Republic Act 720, otherwise known as the Rural Banks’ Act, the Philippine Government, under changing regimes and administrations, vainly sought for a solution to end, or at least alleviate, poverty in the rural areas, which was the result of inadequate production and low income. These causes of distress in the life of rural folks were aggravated by the lack of financial assistance in the form of easy credit within the reach of small farmers, merchants, businessmen and industrialists. From the mistakes of the past, a credit program was launched by the government in 1952. This envisioned the creation of Rural Banking System that could open its doors to serve small producers in the rural areas through the granting of loans at reasonable terms.

The first rural bank was inaugurated in the town of Pasig, Rizal, in December 1952. This started a network of rural banks that has, today, spread out in every corner of the country, from the Cagayan Valley in the North to as far Island of Basilan in the south. The goal of the system to have a rural bank in every principal town of the Philippines began to be realized.

On January 16, 1962, or ten years later, The Rural Bank of Aritao, Inc. was incorporated and was formally opened to the public on February 1, 1962. It is the second rural bank in the province of Nueva Vizcaya and the 185th in the entire rural banking system in the country which operates pursuant to a Certificate of Authority granted by the Central Bank of the Philippines dated February 1, 1962.