BSP closes Export and Industry Bank over liabilities

EXPORTBANK. ERWIN AGUILON/RADYO INQUIRER 990AM

MANILA, Philippines—The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has placed Export and Industry Bank Inc under receivership of the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. as the bank was found to have liabilities that could not be covered by its assets.

The Monetary Board said it has placed EIB under receivership “on account of its inability to meet its obligations as they become due, insufficient realizable assets to meet its liabilities and its inability to continue business without involving probable losses to its depositors or creditors.”

It said in a statement that the decision to close the bank came after the EIB gave a notice to the BSP that it intended to be on a bank holiday.

But the board said the bank’s closure will not adversely affect the Philippine banking system, saying its total assets are equivalent only to 0.3 percent of the total assets of the banking system.

In a separate statement, the PDIC said it has taken over all of the resources and liabilities of the bank, now that it is under receivership.

The PDIC said all depositors of the bank with deposits worth P10,000 or below may expect to have their deposits returned to them starting May.

Under PDIC rules, deposits of such amount are automatically returned.

Deposits worth P10,000 and below account for 62 percent of total deposits to EIB, according to PDIC.

For deposits worth at least 10,000, insurance claim must be filed. Under the law, deposits worth P500,000 and below are covered by deposit insurance.

The Monetary Board on Friday announced that it placed Export and Industry Bank, Inc. (EIB) under receivership.