Philippine bank executive arrested for fraud

MANILA: A senior executive has been arrested for defrauding the Philippines’ second-largest bank in a scandal that sent the institution’s shares tumbling, officials said.

Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co vice-president Maria Victoria Lopez is suspected of stealing 1.75 billion pesos (RM147mil) in loans from his employer, they added.

A trusted employee of the bank for 30 years, earning a monthly salary of 250,000 pesos (RM21,075), Lopez was arrested on Tuesday while trying to move the stolen money to an unspecified personal account, National Bureau of Investigation spokesman Ferdinand Lavin told a press conference yesterday.

Lavin said the money was taken from the credit facility of one of its biggest corporate clients.

“The biggest loser of this is the integrity of the banking system,” said Lavin, who added the suspect would be charged with theft, violation of the banking law and falsification of documents.

The bank did not confirm how much was stolen or the time-frame of the fraud, but stressed it did not affect its customers.

Metrobank, as the bank is known, is investigating whether there were other people involved in the fraud, Lavin added.

Universal Robina Corp, a large food processing company, said yesterday the fraudulent loans had been drawn from its credit facility with Metrobank.

“We thank Metrobank President Fabian Dee for giving us heads-up advice on this unfortunate development and his assurance that URC will not be financially impacted in any way by this incident,” it said in a statement.

However, the fraud wiped nearly US$300mil (RM1.2bil) off the paper value of Metrobank yesterday as investors sold down the stock.

Metrobank shares closed 5.03% lower yesterday to 86.90 pesos (RM7.3). — AFP