Landbank acquisition of Postbank seen sealed in July

State-run Land Bank of the Philippines is set to seal its acquisition of Philippine Postal Savings Bank (Postbank) in July.

Landbank president Alex V. Buenaventura told the Inquirer last week that they already concluded due diligence on Postbank, although he declined to disclose the buying price, citing confidentiality reasons.

Buenaventura disclosed that Landbank had targeted to sign the purchase agreement with Postbank by end-July.

In March, Buenaventura said Landbank’s acquisition of Postbank would be completed by the end of September.

Landbank will acquire 100 percent of Postbank, including the 57-percent equity of state-run Philippine Postal Corp. on top of the national government’s share, Buenaventura had said.

According to Buenaventura, Postbank will be renamed either “OFW Bank” or “Bank for OFWs” to serve overseas Filipino workers’ banking needs.

“We will be setting up OFW centers—we’re preparing for the piloting of the OFW center in Dubai,” Buenaventura had disclosed.

“The OFW center will serve as the representative office of the future OFW Bank or Bank for OFWs, with the first one to be piloted simultaneously with the completion of our acquisition [of Postbank],” Buenaventura had said.

Buenaventura had clarified that the OFW centers would not be bank branches but “service centers that will serve the banking requirement of OFWs.”

OFW Bank will run the OFW centers, Buenaventura had explained, adding that the pilot OFW center would be located within the Philippine consulate in Dubai. —BEN O. DE VERA