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HAVING
closed the window for seven years already, the Bangko
Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has again started issuing
quasi-banking (QB) licenses.
The
reopening is only for so-called nonbank financial
institutions; the general moratorium for the issuance of
bank licenses remains in force.
Unlike
regular commercial and expanded license banks, however,
investment houses and finance companies with QB
functions cannot accept deposits from the public.
Toyota
Financial Services Philippines Corp. (TFSPC), 40-percent
owned by the Metrobank Group, on Friday became the first
to obtain the privilege again, giving it access to
substantially more capital than its present license
allows.
The
quasi-banking license permits the sales financing
company to transact with more than 19 lenders, a
regulatory cap that once hampered its ability to meet
the financing needs of its growing vehicle-riding
clients.
“Nineteen lenders is a very small number for a
fast-growing company like Toyota Financial Services
Philippines Corp.,” deputy BSP governor Nestor Espenilla
Jr. said in ceremonies marking the firm’s fifth
anniversary on Friday.
Because
of the 19-lender rule, TFSPC can only access so much
from a limited number of sources that are themselves
already stretched to the limit in their capacity to meet
the financing company’s needs.
TFSPH
president Dexter Pasion confirmed that his company was
the first to take advantage of the partial lifting of
the moratorium imposed by then BSP governor Rafael
Carlos Buenaventura in 2000 to give premium to existing
but underutilized banking licenses.
Buenaventura
wanted banks to be stronger and more competitive through
a process of mergers and acquisitions, which happens
only when licenses become scarce.
Several
institutions have since fused resources, the latest
being Equitable PCI Bank, which was folded into the
operations of BDO Universal Bank.
Regulators said the spate of initial public offerings
and corporate bond sales of the big players encouraged
the lifting of the moratorium, and has had collateral
impact on the continued development of the domestic
capital market. |
