Metrobank gets okay to open China branch

BEIJING via PLDT -- China has allowed Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. (Metrobank), the country's largest universal bank, to open a branch in Shanghai, signaling the formal approval of a banking agreement between the two countries.

President Estrada was informed last Tuesday by Chinese President Jiang Zemin of his government's decision to allow Metrobank to operate in China.

Metrobank, owned by Filipino-Chinese taipan George SK Ty, bested Lucio Tan's Allied Bank which also applied to operate a branch in China under the proposed RP-Sino banking agreement. The agreement will allow a Philippine bank to operate in Beijing in exchange for a license given by the BSP to allow a Chinese bank to operate in the country.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) recently awarded the Bank of China a full commercial banking license.

Bank of China now occupies the slot vacated by the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) which opted to give up its branch license in lieu of its 60-percent acquisition of Bank of Southeast Asia.

BSP Gov. Rafael B. Buenaventura said "the Bank of China is a very big bank that will largely engage in the promotion of economic and trade (relations) and not so much to compete with the other banks here that cater to the very large Filipino-Chinese depositors."

On the other hand, Buenaventura said the Chinese monetary authorities may have chosen Metrobank probably "because of its size."

He said Allied Bank, as a contingency, has a pending application with the Chinese monetary authorities to transfer its branch office in Xiamen to Shanghai.

The BSP chief said that both Metrobank and Allied Bank have been "pre-qualified" to bid for the slot opened by the Chinese government.

Press Secretary Ricardo Puno said the President received the Chinese government's commitment from President Jian during their tete-a-tete, through interpreters.

"Finally, the Chinese government did indicate that they are prepared to look favorably for the grant of a branch office for a Philippine bank in Shanghai and he (Jiang) mentioned Metrobank," Puno said, adding: "So I assume this will only require some threshing out of details."

Foreign Affairs Secretary Domingo Siazon Jr. said earlier in Manila that one of the important documents that will be signed during the President's state visit to China is a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to finally set into motion the banking agreement between the two countries.

Siazon, along with of Finance Secretary Jose T. Pardo and Buenaventura worked out the MOU with their Chinese government counterparts. --