Gov’t keeps incentive program for rural banks

The government will extend the granting of perks to rural banks undertaking mergers.

The incentive program is scheduled to expire this week.

“We will push for the extension of the CPRB,” Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor Chuchi G. Fonacier told the Inquirer, referring to the Consolidation Program for Rural Banks.

The CPRB will end on Aug. 25. This means the granting of incentives to consolidating rural banks is also suppose to end.

Fonacier said the extension would be issued in the next two to three weeks, as it would have to be approved by the boards of state-run Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. and Landbank of the Philippines.

The BSP, PDIC and Landbank jointly shepherded the implementation of the CPRB.

Also, the Monetary Board, the BSP’s policy setting body, must approve the CPRB’s extension, Fonacier said.

PDIC president Roberto B. Tan told the Inquirer that the three bodies already agreed to extend the CPRB.

When all board approvals are secured, the program will be reinstated or relaunched, Tan said.

Earlier, Tan said four groups participated in the CPRB, of which two groups involving nine rural banks were already on the second phase of the program, or in the process of securing the consent of PDIC, the BSP and the Securities and Exchange Commission for their merger.

“The PDIC expects the approval of the two consolidation transactions by the second half of the year,” Tan said without identifying the rural banks involved.

Tan had said another group involving four rural banks was “about to engage its financial adviser for the conduct of due diligence.”

Five banks that earlier applied under the CPRB eventually opted to consolidate outside the program, Tan said.

The CPRB is a bank-strengthening program for rural banks aimed at enhancing their ability and viability to promote financial inclusion in their respective communities.

Under the revised rules issued by PDIC in April, the CPRB offered regulatory incentives to the merger of less than five rural banks with head offices or majority of the branches located in the same region or area. —BEN O. DE VERA