Banks have until Oct. 11 to get new NCR branches

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has lifted its moratorium on new bank branches in eight cities of Metro Manila, giving banks until Oct. 11 to apply for licenses. All the restrictions on new branches in Manila, San Juan, Quezon City, Mandaluyong, Makati, Pasay, and Parañaque will only be completely removed in 2014, according to the decision of the BSP Monetary Board reached last month. “Under Phase 2 of the liberalization, branching in said areas will be open to all banks except rural banks and cooperative banks which are generally not allowed to establish branches in Metro Manila," the BSP said in Circular No. 728 issued on June 23. The Bangko Sentral released is circular on Tuesday. The BSP policy allows second-tier universal, commercial banks and thrift banks with fewer than 200 branches as of December 2010 to establish new branches until June 30, 2014. Combined capital accounts of at least P10 billion is the required minimum for universal and commercial banks applying for a branch. For thrift banks, the minimum capital account is P3 billion. The BSP said it will allow banks with lower combined capital accounts to establish branches as long as they execute an undertaking to build up their capital before June 2014. In 1999 the BSP imposed its moratorium on new banks and branches. The policy was partially lifted in 2005 and 2008 until the restricted areas were limited to just the eight Metro Manila cities. — ELR/VS, GMA News