THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

AMLC set to probe Metrobank fraud

AMLC set to probe Metrobank fraud

THE Philippines’ Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co may be subjected to a probe by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) in the aftermath of a massive fraud incident involving anywhere between 900 million and 2.5 billion pesos in illegally disbursed loans orchestrated by a rogue officer.

An investigation by regulators tasked with guarding against the movement of so-called “dirty money” in or through the local financial system will depend on the findings of the ongoing investigation being conducted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on the country’s second-largest bank.
“There are many questions begging to be answered,” BSP Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr said when asked about the focus of the probe, which began last Thursday. “We’ll know soon enough [whether the issue needs to be elevated to the AMLC] from the [findings of the] investigation.”
The Inquirer revealed last Friday that Metrobank might have lost as much as 2.5 billion pesos after one of its officers – corporate services assistant vice president Maria Victoria Lopez – allegedly engineered the illegal release of loans to a fake account in the name of a corporate client, which she then either withdrew or remitted outward. 
A ranking Metrobank official who declined to speak on the record, however, insisted that an ongoing probe has so far uncovered “only 900 million pesos ” in losses to this fraudulent scheme.
Bank sources disclosed to the Inquirer that the scam might have been ongoing since 2012. 
 

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