MANILA -- Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said the Department of Finance has submitted to the Office of the President the draft Executive Order for the proposed merger of Landbank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines.

"We have submitted the EO sa Office of the President. I think it's going through CSW (complete staff work). We feel siguro (maybe) by around 4th quarter nasa (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) na kasi it has to be approved by the BSP," Diokno said.

The Finance chief added that the merger may be completed by middle of 2024.

"I think it will be at BSP before end of the year, but hindi yun matatapos kasi katulad ng merger ng Union at Citibank it has go through a process siguro around middle of next year ang full completion," he added.

Diokno earlier said the merging of the 2 banks will create the Philippines' biggest bank in terms of assets, even bigger than BDO Unibank. It is also expected to help the government save P5.3 billion per year or at least P20 billion for the next 4 years, he said.

Under the proposed merger, only 22 branches of DBP will be retained. Landbank has 752 branches, while DBP has 147 branches.

Diokno in April said Philippine President President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. backs the merger of the two state-run banks, despite the DBP insisting that the proposed merger requires legislation.

• DBP insists merger with LANDBANK needs legislation
• Diokno says Marcos backs Landbank-DBP merger

The late former President Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III approved the merger of the two banks in a February 2016 executive order.

• PNoy OKs DBP-Land Bank merger

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