PBCom settles PDIC loan

MANILA, Philippines—Philippine Bank of Communications has graduated from a 10-year government assistance program with the full settlement of a P7.6-billion loan from the state-owned Philippine Deposit and Insurance Corp.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Wednesday, PBCom said it had fully paid the loan to PDIC under its 10-year financial assistance agreement (FAA) signed in 2004.

“With this payment, PBCom successfully exits from the financial support of PDIC under the FAA,” the bank said.

As a consequence, four PDIC nominees in PBCom’s board of directors resigned from their posts. They were Roberto Macasaet, Raul Serrano, Teresita Ang-See and Imelda Singzon.

When PBCom was placed under the government’s financial assistance program, the key shareholders then—the Luy, Chung and Nubla families—committed to cede the controlling stake in the bank to a new investor.—Doris C. Dumlao