BSP padlocks Cavite rural bank

MANILA, Philippines - The Community Bank (Rural Bank of Alfonso Inc.) has been ordered shut by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, making it the first bank closed this year.

Its receiver, the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp., took over the bank last Feb 26.

The rural bank is a three-unit firm with its head office located in Alfonso, Cavite, while its two branches are in Binan, Laguna and Gen. Aguinaldo, Cavite.

The PDIC said latest information on the bank showed it had 26,923 accounts with total deposit liabilities of P245.5 million as of end-March 2014. About P241.1 million of the deposits were insured.

“All bank records shall be gathered, verified and validated… All valid deposits shall be paid up to the maximum deposit insurance coverage of P500,000,” the state deposit insurer said.

The PDIC reminded depositors with account balances of P50,000 and below that they do not need to file insurance claims unless they have outstanding loans with the bank or incomplete addresses on file.

Payments for these depositors would be mailed out starting the second week of March, the government agency said, adding customers have until March 5 to update their addresses with PDIC representatives at the bank’s premises.

Meanwhile, claim settlement operations for bank clients required to file deposit insurance claims would begin by the third week of March.

A depositors-borrowers forum is scheduled for March 11 to inform customers how to file deposit insurance claims. The PDIC said the time and venue of the event would be posted at the bank’s premises and at www.pdic.gov.ph.

Bank clients may also browse the PDIC website to get information on the requirements and procedures for filing claims.

Last year, the PDIC reported there were 14 banks ordered closed by the central bank’s policymaking Monetary Board.

Latest BSP data showed the number of banks shrank to 652 as of September last year from 676 in the same period in 2013, while branches rose six percent to 9,555 from 9,044.

The decrease in the number of banks was a result of mergers, consolidations and the exit of weak players, while the growth in the number of branches was amid the lenders’ aggressive expansion plans.