Credit Suisse wants to open local office

FINANCIAL services giant Credit Suisse is seeking regulatory approval to establish an office in Manila, a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas ( BSP) official said.

“There is another … foreign bank entry application. A representative office of Credit Suisse,” central bank Deputy Governor Chuchi Fonacier told reporters.

The bank has already submitted the required documents and its application is currently up for Monetary Board approval.

Fonacier said that Credit Suisse was one of eight foreign banks that had expressed interest in setting up shop in the Philippines.

Earlier this month, Fonacier said that monetary authorities were processing two applications and expected to approve the entry of a Malaysian bank before the end of the year.

Two of the eight banks were said to be from Southeast Asia.

Republic Act ( RA)/ 10641, approved by Congress in July 2014, further liberalized the entry of foreign banks in line with the region’s economic integration plans.

From 60 percent under RA 7721, the new law allowed foreign banks own

up to 100 percent of an existing local bank or a new subsidiary, among others.

The Monetary Board has to date approved the local operations of 10 foreign banks, half of which are from Taiwan: Chang Hwa Bank Commercial Bank Ltd., Cathay United Bank, Yuanta Commercial Bank, First Commercial Bank, and Hua Nan Commercial Bank Ltd.

The others are South Korea’s Woori Bank, Industrial Bank of Korea and Shinhan Bank; Singapore’s United Overseas Bank Ltd.; and Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO