The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has extended an incentive-driven program allowing rural banks to merge, capture more market and achieve a larger capital base.
In an interview with reporters, Deputy BSP Governor for the Supervision and Examination Sector Chuchi Fonacier said the mechanism known as the Consolidation Program for Rural Banks (CPRB) will be relaunched with amendments and enhancements.
Fonacier said the relaunch of the modified CPRB is targeted sometime before the end of the year now that a new memorandum of agreement (MOA) had been signed.
The important amendments to the program include the relaxation of the number of banks involved in the proposed consolidation.
“In the old CPRB, the number was fixed at five banks. Now, that is being relaxed for as long as the [minimum] CAR [capital adequacy ratio] of 12 percent and the minimum P100 million resulting capital is met. No more required number of banks,” the deputy governor said.
Fonacier added the program is available over the next two years for interested rural banks, starting with the signing of the MOA.
The program has, thus, far attracted three proposed consolidations.
Fonacier said the three applications are in different stages of completion, although one is in the “advanced” phase and in the process of gathering the documents for a new umbrella bank.
The BSP could grant approval of the consolidation as soon as early-2018.