MANILA - Metrobank is expected to be "resilient" after a reported heist, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Nestor Espenilla said Friday, as regulators investigated the incident.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that a senior official funneled at least P900 million to a fictitious account. Metrobank said one person was arrested without elaborating on the incident.

Espenilla said the reported theft was "isolated" and the banking system was "well-capitalized."

"Banks have controls so that these kinds of things can be mitigated and withstood. No system is perfect," Espenilla told reporters.

"But the bank is expected to be resilient to these things and I have no concern that the bank can handle these things. This is a large bank. It made P16 billion last year. This is very unfortunate, but they have to deal with it," he said.

On the central bank's investigation, Espenilla said: "We just have to establish facts."

"Our banks have their natural internal controls, precisely to prevent these things from happening. We have to look into the adequacy of those controls if in fact a significant crime happened," he said.