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.