BSP eases rules on voluntary surrender of banking licenses

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has eased the process of the voluntary surrender of banking licenses as long as these institutions are able to repay their depositors.

The new enhanced guidelines approved by the Monetary Board allows voluntary surrender of a banking license either with a plan to proceed to voluntary dissolution and liquidation or to keep the entity’s corporate or cooperative life and convert into a nonbank entity.

The BSP said guidelines cover instances of voluntary surrender where no creditors would be affected during the resulting voluntary dissolution or the conversion into a non-bank entity.

“At the minimum, the applicant bank will ensure immediately accessible funds equivalent to its outstanding deposit obligations to provide assurance on the repayment of depositors,” the regulator added.

It said the streamlining of the guidelines emphasizes the primary requirement that only a bank in sound financial condition and does not have any of the grounds to prohibit it from doing business under Section 30 of Republic Act 7653 or the New Central Bank Act, as amended, may be allowed to undergo voluntary surrender of its banking license.

However, the BSP reiterated that it could still impose sanctions to concerned bank’s directors, officers and employees who are found to have violated banking laws, rules and regulations even after the surrender of banking license.