GSIS Family Bank draws interest

Shuttered GSIS Family Bank may find a new lease on life as a number of investors expressed interest to rehabilitate the thrift lender that used to be controlled by pension fund Government Service Insurance System.

Ana Rosa E. Viray, manager of Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp.’s receivership and bank management department, yesterday said “less than 10” interested parties submitted the pre-qualification documents for the bank on Wednesday. She, however, declined to provide details.

PDIC had given a July 20 deadline for interested domestic and foreign banks as well as non-bank corporations to submit letters of intent to rehabilitate GSIS Family Bank on top of supporting documents.

Viray said PDIC would assess the pre-qualification documents in the next two months.

Qualified third party investors must execute a confidentiality agreement and post a P5-million bond before due diligence is conducted on Aug. 1, PDIC had said.

PDIC set the following prequalification criteria for interested parties:

• for banks, a minimum capital adequacy of ratio of 12 percent before the acquisition and the capacity to infuse the necessary capital to ensure that the 12-percent CAR requirement is complied with if it will fall below the cap after acquiring GSIS Family Bank.

• for non-banks, minimum capital should be at least P2 billion or an amount adequate to meet the capitalization requirement to rehabilitate the thrift bank.

In May, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ Monetary Board placed GSIS Family Bank under PDIC receivership.

The Pasig City-headquartered bank had 11 branches in Cavite, seven in Metro Manila, two in Laguna and one in Bulacan.

Last year, the GSIS thrice tried but failed to dispose of its 99.6-percent share in GSIS Family Bank through negotiated sale, as bidders had to secure the Dragon family’s consent as holder of 0.4 percent in the bank.