TYCOON Lucio Tan’s Allied Banking Corp. has expanded its long-term deposit base by issuing Long-Term Negotiable Certificates of Time Deposit (LTNCDs) in the amount of P3.5 billion last month.

In a statement, the bank—the country’s ninth largest in terms of assets as of end-June—said the LTNCDs were issued at par with a fixed rate of 7.0 percent payable quarterly until 2014. The issue was priced at a spread of about 60 basis points over the five-year benchmark.

FIRST Metro Investment Corp. (FMIC) posted a 164-percent increase in January-September net income to P824.2 million from the same period last year, as investment banking fees and trading gains from stocks and fixed-income securities swelled.

The listed company’s top-line figure grew 42 percent to P3.2 billion.

THE House ways and means committee vowed to give high priority to the move to retain the exemption of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) from corporate income tax which was repealed when Republic Act 9337 and the Consolidated Value-Added Tax (VAT) of 2005 were implemented, even as legislators are divided over the issue.