Glasgow investors won’t get all their money back

Investors of Glasgow Credit and Collection Services Inc. may get only 67 percent of their principal investments back as the funds in the frozen bank accounts of the company are not enough to pay back all the claims of 9,121 investors.

"We estimate that only 67 to 68 percent of the total investments made by Glasgow investors will be returned," an SEC official said.

The SEC official said investors who have submitted the required documents for the settlement of their claims, will be directed to go to the banks where Glasgow has savings accounts.

Glasgow has deposits in Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corp., Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., Citystate Savings Bank and International Export Bank.

The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) wants to start distributing the funds to Glasgow investors next week but this would depend on AMLC’s negotiations with the banks which have refused to handle money collection services for Glasgow for fear that people might presume there is a bank run.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, which is a member of the AMLC, earlier said the SEC would have to ensure that only legitimate owners get their money back.

The funds will be shared equally by investors, pro-rated against their original investments.

Glasgow’s total collections reached P1.16 billion from over 9,000 individuals and corporations during the firm’s four months of operations from March 11 to July 11.

The same SEC official said AMLC is investigating whether Glasgow may have other bank accounts that have not yet been frozen.

Listed as incorporators of Glasgow are Manuel Roldan Jr., Radicion Baldia, Jenilyn Condes, Jonathan Condes, and Roldan Estacio.

The SEC earlier asked the AMLC to unfreeze the bank accounts of Glasgow to enable the firm to settle its obligations to investors.

Last week, the SEC’s Compliance and Enforcement Department turned over to the AMLC the final list of claims filed by 9,121 investors of Glasgow. The total amount of claims reached at least P893.96 million.