MANILA, Philippines – A thrift bank controlled by state pension fund Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) became the biggest lender to be shuttered by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) this year.
In a statement last Friday, the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) said GSIS Family Bank was closed down and assured its depositors their claims will be serviced and processed.
As banking regulator, BSP issued Monetary Board Resolution No. 826 closing down the bank. PDIC, meanwhile, takes care of the disposal of its assets to service claims.
The latest closure brought to nine the number of closed banks this year amid heightened efforts of the central bank to weed out weak players.
GSIS Family Bank is a 22-unit thrift bank managed by the pension fund. GSIS has been pushing for the lender’s sale for the past few years.
The bank has seven branches in the National Capital Region, one in Bulacan, 11 in Cavite, and two in Laguna.
Latest available records showed the lender has 14,507 deposit accounts containing an aggregate of P974.81 million.
Of this, 80.67 percent or P786.39 million are considered insured, meaning they are covered by the maximum deposit insurance of P500,000.
Individual depositors with accounts containing balances of P100,000 and below shall be eligible for early payment and need not file deposit insurance claims, PDIC said.
Depositors have to ensure that they have completed and updated their addresses with the bank as PDIC will start mailing payments no later than the first week of June.
For depositors who are required to file claims, PDIC would start claims settlement operations for these accounts by third week of the same month.
A Depositors-Borrowers’ Forum will be conducted from May 25 to 27.
Last October, GSIS managed to attract a lone bidder for its controlling stake in the thrift bank. Altus Capital Partners Inc. offered to acquire the 25.15 million common shares, 48,758 preferred “A” shares, and 1.25 million preferred “C” shares owned by GSIS in GSIS Family Bank.
The bidding and negotiated sale of the stake of GSIS in the thrift bank have failed several times after it was put on the auction block in April last year.
The BSP has so far ordered eight other banks closed this year. These were Surigao City Evergreen Rural Bank Inc., Rural Bank of Malinao (Aklan) Inc.; the Rural Bank of Bayawan; Lapu-Lapu Rural Bank Inc. based in Carcar City Cebu; the Rural Bank of Villaviciosa (Abra) Inc.; Koronadal Rural Bank Inc.; Rural Bank of Panay Inc.; and Rural Bank of Basay (Negros Oriental) Inc.
Last year, a total of 14 rural banks were shuttered.