Insurance fund expands to P216B

State-run Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) closed the year 2020 with a higher deposit insurance fund (DIF) to P216.85 billion, according to the Department of Finance (DoF).

In a statement on Friday, the DoF quoted PDIC President Roberto Tan as reporting to Finance Secretary Carlo Dominguez 3rd that the agency’s DIF rose by 10.3 percent from its 2019 level of P196.52 billion.

“The DIF represents PDIC’s overall capacity to respond to insurance calls due to bank failures,” the finance department noted.

Tan, meanwhile, said pick up in DIF resulted in an adequacy level of 6.91 percent in terms of the ratio of the DIF to the banking system’s estimated total insured deposits. The ratio was above the minimum target of 5.5 percent for 2020.

The DIF consists of reserves for insurance losses of P193.64 billion, retained earnings of P20.21 billion and permanent insurance fund of P3.0 billion.

Tan added that PDIC will endeavor to maintain adequate DIF cover at prudential level.
Dominguez stressed that PDIC’s record of performance has been marked by the prudential management of the deposit insurance fund and the prompt settlement of deposit insurance claims.

It added the PDIC also settled 100 percent of the 7,072 valid deposit insurance claims within its target turnaround time for five banks ordered closed in 2020.

Of the total deposit insurance claims, 6,733 accounts involved deposits of P100,000 and below, were settled within target turn-around-time to eligible depositors, while 339 were for deposits with balances of more than P100,000.

Meanwhile, Tan also said PDIC aims to continue the prompt settlement of deposit insurance claims by expanding to digital payment platforms this year, including Instapay and the multichannel disbursement facility of a government bank.

It will also strive to maintain or improve on the 90-percent satisfaction rating it received from clients and other stakeholders in 2020.