Land Bank of the Philippines will acquire the Philippine Postal Savings Bank (Postbank) with plans to transform the state-run thrift lender into a bank catering to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), a ranking government official has said.
Land Bank, the country’s fourth largest bank in terms of assets, will buy Postbank from another government-owned firm Philippine Postal Corp. (PHLPost), Manila Bulletin quoted Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III as saying.
“They told me it would take 11-months,” Dominguez reportedly said when asked about their timetable for the buyout. “It [Postbank] will just be operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary [of Land Bank], and it will be serving the OFW market.”
Postbank will undergo rebranding and may require additional capital infusion from the national government, the finance chief disclosed, the report said.
“They have to beef up the bank. It’s like giving your child some money, but it’s still yourself,” Dominguez reportedly said.
He believes Postbank could better compete with other private banks catering to overseas Filipinos because of its “very good tie-up” with the PHLPost.
The oversight body for government-owned or -controlled corporations (GOCCs) earlier proposed that Postbank be absorbed by Land Bank or Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), said the news portal.
But Dominguez said Land Bank is the only government owned lender allowed to absorb the Postbank. “We don’t have any other universal bank to do it, DBP is not a universal bank,” he was quoted as saying.
When the Durterte administration took office in July, Dominguez initially wanted to pursue the sale of Postbank along with other government shareholdings in United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB), the report said.
