The President of the Republic of the Philippines, Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III has signed an executive order (EO No. 198 issued on Feb. 4) approving the merger of the two biggest banks in the Philippines, the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and Land Bank of the Philippines.
According to Pres. Aquino’s Executive Order No. 198, the merger of Land Bank and LBP comes amid “overlapping of the functions of the two banks and to provide better services to more “unbanked and underserved areas.”
Pres. Aquino approved the recommendation of Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, the increase in Land Bank’s authorized capital stock from P25 billion to P200 billion since it would be the surviving entity.
The merger of Land Bank and DBP is now pending and waiting for the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) approval as well as written consent of the state-run Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation. Once finalized the Land Bank of the Philippines will become the country’s second biggest banks in terms of assets.
The President who is now serving for his last few months in office as chief executive said that the merger of the two state-owned banks will build a stronger and more competitive development bank which would help the country achieve inclusive growth.