The Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) and government-owned Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank) will implement a PDIC-Landbank Visa Debit Card Project to make it more convenient for depositors of closed banks to access their insurance payments.
In a statement, PDIC said the partnership with Landbank “will provide depositors of closed banks an additional means to promptly access their deposit insurance payment from the PDIC.”
Basically, Landbank will issue its Visa Debit Card to eligible depositors who are covered by the outright payment of deposit insurance, or those who are no longer required to file deposit insurance claims, said PDIC.
Eligible are individual depositors with valid deposit balances of P100,000 and below and “have no outstanding loans with the closed bank and have complete mailing addresses in the bank records or have updated this information” via the PDIC system.
PDIC said the project aligns with the government’s financial inclusion efforts and to promote a “more efficient public service delivery by optimizing digital technology.”
It noted that “financial inclusion (is promoted) by enabling the affected depositors to remain banked and protected within the financial system through their LBP (Landbank) account opened through the Landbank Visa Debit Card.”
PDIC President and CEO Roberto B. Tan and Landbank President and CEO Lynette V. Ortiz signed last Nov. 23 the implementing rules and regulations and the Data Sharing Agreement to execute the deal.
The PDIC and Landbank have previously collaborated and have been partners for the prompt reimbursement of deposit insurance payments since 2001, said PDIC.
“Agreements under this partnership have undergone enhancements over the years to provide more secured and convenient payment options to depositors of closed banks,” it said.
The PDIC is the state deposit insurer mandated to protect depositors through deposit insurance of up to P500,000 per depositor, per bank.
Meanwhile, banks ordered closed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) Monetary Board, its policy-making arm, are placed under PDIC receivership and their depositors paid up to the maximum coverage.
Last year, the PDIC Charter was amended and took effect on July 20, 2022. The new law also transferred PDIC to the BSP as an attached agency from the Department of Finance (DOF). This was done to improve policy and program coordination as banking co-regulator.
By September last year, the BSP, DOF and PDIC has issued the IRR for Republic Act No. 11840 which amended certain provisions of RA No. 3591, or the PDIC Charter.