BSP padlocks thrift bank
By Doris Dumlao
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 21:33:00 02/08/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has ordered the closure of Bankwise Inc. and placed the troubled thrift bank under the receivership of the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp.
The PDIC announced Friday that it has taken over the thrift bank after the BSP's policy-making Monetary Board shut the bank down on Thursday.
A six-branch bank based in Makati City formerly associated with publicist Dante Ang, the bank was padlocked due to insolvency, or a situation where liabilities exceeded its assets.
Formerly known as Dharmala Bank, its five branches are located in Mandaluyong, Las Piñas, Cebu City, Davao City, and Quezon City. Latest available records showed that the bank's estimated total deposit liabilities amounted to P1.33 billion as of June 30, 2007.
In a statement, PDIC said that upon takeover, all bank records would be verified and validated in preparation for the payout operations. The PDIC advised depositors of the closed bank to wait for further announcements on the schedule of claims servicing.
Under Republic Act 9302 that amended the PDIC Charter effective August 12, 2004, the maximum deposit insurance coverage is now P250,000 per depositor.
A consortium led by Ang earlier acquired control of Bankwise, but sources said the publicist had divested his shares.
Philippine Veterans Bank took over management control of the bank in the past but afterwards reconsidered plans to acquire full control of the bank.
The BSP itself is running after Bankwise after discovering that some of the titles of real property submitted to the central bank as collateral for emergency loans obtained by the thrift bank were allegedly fraudulent.
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