MANILA -- The merger between the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and Land Bank of the Philippines is no longer pushing through, Department of Finance Secretary Ralph Recto said Tuesday.

In an ambush interview, Recto was asked about the merger not pushing through anymore.

"'Yes I don’t think so. I think we're better off with 2 government depository banks and 2 members in the Maharlika Board," he said.

Recto said there seems to be no need for a resolution scrapping the merger.

"I don’t think there’s a resolution merging it," he said.

"To me, it's as simple as I think we need 2 government depository banks, their mandates are totally different. So I think we're better off with 2 of them," he said.

When asked if the scrapped merger has an impact on DBP and Landbank's ability to meet the minimum capital requirement set by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas after their mandated contribution to the Maharlika Investment Fund, Recto said "I think they'll be fine. They will be okay."
 
"If they have dividends this year then those can be part of retained earnings which they can use to increase their capital anyway," he added.
 
The BSP earlier said it is yet to receive an application for the merger of the 2 banks.
 
The Landbank is currently the country's second largest commercial bank in terms of asset as of September 2023, while DBP is currently number 8.
 
-with a report from Jessica Fenol, ABS-CBN News
 
More details to follow.