Banking & Finance

State-owned Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank) has a new chief—former Officer-in-Charge Andres Sarmiento, who served in a concurrent position as executive vice president, after the bank’s President and CEO Gilda E. Pico’s term ended on July 14.

By Riza Lozada The central bank’s policy-making Monetary Board (MB) has approved the domestic operations of Taiwan’s First Commercial Bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Deputy Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said.

Remittances from overseas Filipinos reached $2.4 billion in May, up by 1.8 percent year-on-year, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) figures released last July 15 showed.

By Riza Lozada The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it is revising its lending procedures after an update on its anticorruption policy to address tax secrecy, tax evasion, and aggressive forms of tax planning, collectively referred to as “tax integrity issues,” in the wake of recent global developments.

United States monetary officials’ concerns on the impact of global economic developments on the US economy and the Federal Reserve (Fed) rates is seen positive for capital flows to emerging economies like the Philippines.

Foreign portfolio investments, otherwise known as “hot money,” due to its transient nature, posted a net inflow of $344.23 million as of June 26, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) data showed. 

By Riza Lozada Growth in local trade resulted in foreign- currency (forex) borrowings among local banks to grow 11.4 percent in the first quarter, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported over the weekend.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the change of name of insurance holding company Generali Pilipinas Holding Cp. Inc. (GPHC) to BDO Life Assurance Holdings Corp. (BDO Life Holdings), and its wholly-owned life insurance company, Generali Pilipinas Life Assurance Company Inc. (GPLAC), to BDO Life Assurance Company Inc. (BDO Life), BDO Unibank reported to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Bond yields in most emerging East Asian markets continued to track lower from March 1 to May 15, except for the Philippines and China, as investors factored in forecasts of continued slow growth for the global economy, Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) latest Asia Bond Monitor said.

Any change in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) policy rates is expected to happen only in the first half of 2017, the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ), the fourth largest bank by market capitalization in Australia, said after the BSP kept monetary policy settings unchanged last week.