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Press Release July 09, 2017

Big banks open for business in quake-hit Visayas

Members of the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) are ready to serve customers in earthquake-affected areas in the Visayas, the BAP said over the weekend.

“In consideration of the magnitude 6.5 earthquake that hit Leyte and the rest of Eastern and Central Visayas on July 6, the public is advised that BAP member banks with branches in the provinces of Leyte, Cebu, Bohol and other nearby provinces shall continue to service the banking public while we endeavor to deliver normal banking operations, particularly in the areas that were most affected,” the BAP said.

BAP member banks have advised branch offices to strive and deliver banking transactions.

“We would like to ask the clients in the affected areas to visit their respective branches for assistance,” the association said.

BAP members include largest universal and commercial banks as well as foreign banks operating in the country.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) earlier said that banks were assessing the damage in Leyte province caused by the magnitude 6.5 earthquake that hit the region at 4:03 p.m. on Thursday.

Banks were expected to recover quickly as the central bank had put in place regulations that would ensure that operations would continue amid natural disasters like earthquakes, it said.

The central bank’s business continuity management (BCM) rules require banks to make comprehensive BCM integral to operations so that they could withstand the impact of major disruptions.

The rationale for the rule is for supervised financial institutions or BSFIs adversely affected by disruption of critical operations to continue serving clients.