Sale of foreclosed assets nets P118M for PDIC

The state deposit insurer has raised over P100 million from the sale of foreclosed assets, which will help it fund payouts of claims of depositors who have lost money due to the closure of mismanaged lenders.

In a statement, the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. said a total of 186 properties had been auctioned off during a public bidding.

The properties sold were located in the cities of Caloocan, Parañaque and Pasay; Calamba, Laguna; Tuguegarao, Cagayan; and in the provinces of Camarines Norte, Cavite, Cebu, Ilocos Norte, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Quezon, Rizal, Romblon and Sorsogon.

These were sold for P118.01 million, the PDIC said.

The total amount raised for the 21 properties sold had a premium of P11.31 million, as against the properties’ aggregate minimum disposal price of P106.70 million.

Of the total properties sold, 16 were owned by closed banks, while five were corporate assets.

“Proceeds from the sale of closed banks properties are automatically credited to the funds held in trust for the closed banks concerned, and are used to settle claims of creditors and uninsured depositors,” the state-run firm said.

Meanwhile, proceeds from the sale of corporate assets are added to the Deposit Insurance Fund, PDIC’s main repository for the payment of insured deposits.

Under the law, every deposit account in banks that are ordered shut by regulators are fully insured up to P500,000.

Any amount in excess of this may only be recovered after the sale of the assets of closed banks.

Banks ordered closed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas often suffer from mismanagement, which leads to insolvency that prevents lenders from serving their clients’ withdrawals.

Lenders found to be engaging in unsafe and unsound banking practices may also be ordered shut even before they become insolvent.

The PDIC, as liquidator of closed banks, conducts public biddings in accordance with its strategic direction of expeditious disposal of nonfinancial assets.

Properties not sold during the bidding are available for negotiated sale or may be up for future auctions.