THE PHILIPPINE Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) last year paid depositors P281.5 million in insurance after the central bank closed three banks.
These were for Rural Bank of Cuyo (Palawan), Inc., Cooperative Bank of Bohol and Community Rural Bank of Medellin (Cebu), Inc., all of which are now under liquidation, the PDIC said in a statement late on Wednesday.
PDIC paid out 94% of the total P298.6 million estimated insured deposits in 9,231 accounts for the three closed banks. Payments were made for 7,482 deposit accounts, making up 81% of the total number of accounts.
“Payments amounting to P126.8 million or 45% of the total payments of P281.5 million for the year 2024 involved 6,738 accounts which were eligible for outright payment up to the threshold of P500,000, without the need to file deposit insurance claims,” the PDIC said.
The state deposit insurer paid the depositors within 10 to 18 working days from the dates the banks were taken over through postal money order checks, it said.
Eligible for waived filing and outright payment are individual depositors and registered business entities who have valid deposit accounts with balances of P500,000 and below and have no outstanding loans with the closed banks.
Meanwhile, payments for depositors required to file claims reached P154.7 million, making up 55% of the total payments last year. These were sent to 744 deposit accounts, which made up 10% of total deposit accounts paid.
The PDIC settled these claims within 18 to 27 working days, it added.
Payments were charged against the Deposit Insurance Fund, which stood at P236.95 billion as of end-2024. — Aaron Michael C. Sy