Bancommerce to reopen Urban Bank by December

Bank of Commerce is optimistic it can reopen the branches of Urban Banking Corp. before the end of this year, Bancommerce president Raul De Mesa said yesterday.

In an interview with The STAR, De Mesa said they are on schedule with regard to the proposed roadshow for all the creditors and lenders of Urban Bank.

"We are finalizing all requirements for the conduct of a roadshow. This presentation will allow creditors and lenders of Urban to learn and agree on process and components of the approved rehabilitation plan for Urban," he said.

He said by next week, they will probably start with the roadshow presentation and at the same time meet with the stockholders of Urban Bank and its investment house subsidiary Urbancorp Investment Inc. (UII).

De Mesa said they hope to get 100-percent approval of the proposed rehab plan from the creditors and lenders of Urban Bank.

"We have scheduled all of these (roadshow and stockholders’ meeting) to happen in November," he said.

He said if the creditors and stockholders approve the rehab plan, it would pave the way for the servicing of the deposits of the bank and investment house by first week of December this year.

According to De Mesa, they would be meeting with the directors of Urban Bank and UII today (Oct. 25) to discuss the roadshow presentation processes.

Based on earlier approved scheme, he said all creditors and stockholders of Urban Bank will be treated equally so the conversion of deposits/investments into properties of Urban would be done after the roadshow presentation is over.

"The conversion of the assets will be done as the second stage wherein there would be matching of certain assets and liabilities of Urban," he said.

The Social Security System (SSS) was earlier reported as requesting the conversion of its P200-million equity investments in Urban into a property in Urban Plaza.

De Mesa said there are a lot of creditors and depositors, like SSS, that want their equities/deposits to be convered into properties. "We have designed a purchase plan that would allow Urban creditors/depositors to convert their deposits into properties at a discounted value," he said.

He said as soon as the rehab plan is approved, they would pursue their plans to sell the assets and properties of Urban, particularly the Urban Bank Plaza and One McKinley Place.

"We decided to stay in our own building. We will sell all the propertiues of Urban," he said. According to De Mesa, they have already completed the takeover of Pan Asia Banking Corp. last Sept. 1.

He said Bancommerce has signed the purchase/sale agreement with Traders Royal Banking Corp. At the same time, he said the Monetary Board of the BSP and the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. have agreed in the principle to the said purchase agreement.

"We are proceeding as scheduled. We hope to finish the TRB deal by end-November."

"We are proceeding as scheduled. We hope to finish the TRB deal by end-November," he said.

Assuming there are no objections from the creditors, he said they would be reopening Urban Bank as expected on the first week of December.

Bancommerce has been designated as the rehabilitator of Urban Bank, a commercial bank that declared a bank holiday due to massive withdrawals and was ordered closed by the BSP. on April 26.