NEWLY established Sterling Bank of Asia Inc. expects to be fully operational by 2012, and plans to buy a “problem-free” commercial bank within four years from now, president Lamberto Villena said Wednesday.

He said the bank is already looking into a possible acquisition, but declined to divulge details.

“Meron na. Ang hinahanap namin yung talagang ayaw na magnegosyo, rather than yung umaalis dahil ang daming problema. [We are already eyeing a possible acquisition. We are looking for a bank that  doesn’t want to do business anymore but is problem-free, than one that is closing because of problems]. For example, Merchants Bank was a good buy” he said in an interview on the sidelines of Bottomline 2008, a business forum hosted by Sterling Bank and TKC Steel.

Merchants Bank was acquired by the Yuchengco-led Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.

Sterling Bank closed 2007 with P7.5 billion in total resources. Its loan portfolio reached P3.5 billion, 40 percent of which came from corporate accounts, another 40 percent from the middle market and 20 percent from consumer loans.

“We have the infrastructure and the manpower; what we need is a strategic direction,” he said, adding that the bank continues to be positive in property lending.

Despite the presence of economic pressures, such as the runaway price of oil and soaring inflation, Villena said the bank remains upbeat on growth potentials and business opportunities in the country.

“We joined not just a crowded industry, but a very crowded industry, but there is hope. Our focus is how to grow. We are on target as far as the business plan is concerned. We are very realistic. If you set up a bank, you don’t make money on day one. You give it at least one-and-a-half to two years,” he said.

Sterling Bank currently has 12 branches and intends to finish 2008 with 30. The bank, formerly known as Far East Savings Bank, was capitalized at P1 billion, thrice the central bank’s minimum requirement.

The Securities and Exchange Commission last December approved its registration as a government securities dealer. The central bank also approved its application for a license to operate a foreign currency deposit unit.

THE government has abandoned its bid to a balanced budget and instead will allow its financial plans to run a deficit of up P75 billion, or about 1 percent of the gross domestic product.

WHEN liquidity problems struck the preneed industry in 2005, 49-year-old office personnel Diosdada Marquez was worried that her insurance provider might not be able to pay its obligations to her retirement policy that would mature that year.

NEWLY established Sterling Bank of Asia Inc. expects to be fully operational by 2012, and plans to buy a “problem-free” commercial bank within four years from now, president Lamberto Villena said Wednesday.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. is pushing for a partial tax exemption for electric cooperatives, but only those servicing missionary rural areas.

Lawmakers sidestepped lengthy bicameral talks on differing provisions of the income-tax reform bill after House members agreed to just adopt the Senate version of the measure increasing allowable exemption claims for individual and corporate tax filers.

DAVAO CITY—The move to rescue the ailing rural banks is necessary and important, as these banks are directly serving the countryside.

THE peso yesterday closed at its intra day low of P43.72 per dollar, from P43.75, following an uptrend in most of the region’s currencies as crude oil prices come off their peaks.