Bank Lippo interested in RP Monte de Piedad bank

Bank Lippo interested in RP Monte de Piedad bank

MANILA (Reuter): Four groups including Indonesia's Bank Lippo,
are interested in buying into the financially-troubled Monte de
Piedad Savings and Mortgage Bank of the Philippines, Central Bank
officials said yesterday.

Central Bank governor Gabriel Singson said he had met with
representatives of Indonesia's Bank Lippo which has expressed
interest in buying the bank.

Another official identified the other prospective buyers as
Keppel Bank of Singapore, Banco de Oro Bank, a commercial bank
owned by Chinese-Filipino mall magnate Henry Sy, and a group of
investors associated with a Catholic religious order.

The interested buyers will meet Monte de Piedad and Central
Bank officials on Friday to discuss the possible rehabilitation
and eventual buy-in of the bank.

The bank needs an infusion of 3.1 billion pesos in fresh
capital, the official said.

The bank, which has a small number of branches in Manila, used
to be controlled by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila
before it sold a substantial stake to banker Vicente Tan in 1995.

On Wednesday, the Central Bank temporarily suspended the
operations of Monte de Piedad due to a bank run.

The bank suffered from heavy withdrawals after it reported
that thousands of tricycle operators and drivers failed to pay
their loans worth 1.8 billion pesos.

"This is an isolated problem," Central Bank governor Gabriel
Singson said.

"It is not a reflection that the sky is falling. The banking
sector continues to be strong. This particular bank, in a sense,
is a victim to its own follies," Finance Secretary Roberto de
Ocampo said in a separate news conference.
" This is not a situation which is likely to spread beyond the
immediate vicinity of that bank itself," he added.