Court stops liquidation of AMA Bank
The Court of Appeals has ordered the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the state owned Philippine Deposit
Insurance Corp. (PDIC) to refrain from implementing their decision to padlock and liquidate the assets of AMA
Rural Bank of Mandaluyong, the banking arm of the AMA Group of Companies of businessman Amable Aguiluz.
AMA Bank obtained a 60-day temporary restraining order (TRO) from the Court of Appeals that constrained
PDIC from pursuing the liquidation of its assets. The order took effect on Nov. 26.
This developed as the owners of the rural bank challenged in court what they claimed was an “unreasonable”
move by banking regulators to shut down the bank’s operations. Its management claimed that it was “liquid,”
citing its shareholders’ capital injection of an additional P405 million and a total deposit due from BSP/other banks amounting to P246 million.
“We assure our depositing public that the PDIC’s paramount commitment is to expedite the validation of bank records to be able to immediately pay the insured depositors of AMA Bank. We have in fact resorted to alternative procedures to do just that when the TRO was issued. We appeal to the depositors for their understanding,”
PDIC president Roberto Tan said in a press statement on Wednesday.
On Nov. 8, 2019, PDIC took over the assets and affairs of the shuttered AMA Bank.