PDIC chooses auditing firm to enable faster deposit claims payout

MANILA, Philippines - Auditing company KPMG Manabat Sanagustin & Co. was chosen to assist government in examining deposit accounts in a dozen failed banks, helping depositors obtain their claims faster. The firm’s engagement with the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) “will help speed up the examination of deposit accounts and enable the PDIC to start payout of deposit insurance claims by mid-February," the agency said in a statement. The dozen shuttered lenders have estimated deposit accounts of over 130,000. These banks include Rural Bank of Paranaque, Pilipino Rural Bank, Rural Bank of Bais (Negros Oriental), Rural Bank of San Jose (Batangas), Bank of East Asia, First Interstate Bank, Philippine Countryside Rural Bank, Dynamic Rural Bank, Nation Bank, Rural Bank of Carmen (Cebu), Rural Bank of Darbci, and San Pablo City Development Bank. “[S]imultaneous closures were unprecedented and the records so voluminous that more than half of the total manpower complement of the PDIC were fielded in 48 locations all over the country to undertake examination prior to payout," the PDIC said in a statement. Payouts to depositors would begin in September if PDIC relied on its own personnel, the agency said. “By engaging the services of an external audit firm, we cut down the time significantly and start the payout by middle of February," the same statement said, quoting PDIC president Jose C. Nograles. “Our priority is to service the claims of small depositors with deposits of P100,000 and below because PDIC’s mandate is to protect the small unsophisticated depositors. Based on available data, depositors with accounts P100,000 and below represent about 62% of the total deposit accounts in these 12 closed banks," he added. For its part, KPMG Manabat Sanagustin & Co. is expected to assist the agency in presettlement examination, which is a pre-requisite to claims payout. “The state deposit insurer needs to examine bank records and evaluate these to verify their validity before payout starts in order to safeguard the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF)," the PDIC said. KPMG Manabat Sanagustin & Co., a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International, was cited by KPMG Asia Pacific as one of the fastest growing partnerships in the Asia Pacific region for the third quarter of 2008. It has undertaken extensive auditing, tax, and risk and financial advisory services for its customers including the Credit Suisse group, Deutsche Bank, ANZ Banking group, HSBC Holdings, among others. In the Philippines, the firm was engaged by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to conduct enterprise risk management training in 2007, and to convert accounting standards from the US-generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). - GMANews.TV