Land Bank of Taiwan putting up representative office

MANILA, Philippines — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has given state-owned Land Bank of Taiwan Co. Ltd. the green light to open a representative office in the Philippines, bringing to 14 the number of foreign banks operating liaison offices in the country.

BSP Deputy Governor Chuchi Fonacier said the application of Land Bank of Taiwan to open a representative office has been approved by the central bank.

As a liaison office, the function of the Taiwanese bank would be limited to promoting and providing information about the services or products offered by the bank.

The managerial structure of the Taiwanese bank consists of the head office with 29 units, 150 domestic branches excluding offshore banking units, and seven overseas branches including Los Angeles, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, New York, Tianjin and Wuhan.

Just last Jan. 31, state-run Bank of Taiwan opened its representative office in the country. Bank of Taiwan has 169 domestic branches as well as presence in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Tokyo, London, Singapore, South Africa, Los Angeles, and New York.

Aside from the Taiwanese banks, other foreign banks that opened representative offices in the country include the State Bank of India, Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank Ltd., Wells Fargo Bank, Korea Development Bank, Bank of Singapore Ltd., DBS Bank Ltd., Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Rothschild (Singapore) Ltd., The Bank of New York Mellon, Korea Eximbank, UBS AG, and Zurich-based Credit Suisse.

Fonacier earlier said more foreign banks are looking at setting up branches and representative offices in the Philippines on the back of the country’s sound macroeconomic fundamentals.

The BSP has so far allowed 12 foreign banks to open branches in the Philippines since former president Benigno Aquino III signed Republic Act 10641 or An Act Allowing the Full Entry of Foreign Banks in July 2014, removing the limit in the number of foreign banks that can enter in the country.