A bill seeking to double the maximum insurance protection of the country’s 63 million bank depositors has been filed at the House of Representatives.
Makati City Rep. Luis Campos Jr. filed House Bill 5812, which proposes to increase the maximum deposit insurance coverage (MDIC) from P500,000 to P1 million per depositor per bank.
“We have to restore the full value of protection of the MDIC at today’s prices if we want to encourage Filipinos to continue to keep their money in banks,” Campos said.
“MDIC’s full value of protection has deteriorated significantly by the general increase in prices over the last 10 years.”
The legislator said the MDIC’s “full value of protection” has deteriorated significantly by the general increase in prices over the last 10 years.
The lawmaker noted that there is a growing number of Filipino middle-class families that now have more than P1 million in liquid assets, which may be held in banks.
He cited the state-run Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) stating that tens of thousands of depositors have been affected by the collapse or closure of 41 banks, mostly rural lenders in 2017 alone.
“Our bill, once enacted, will help reinforce public confidence in the banking system.”
“We are positive that our bill, once enacted, will also help reinforce public confidence in the banking system that plays an indispensable role in driving national economic growth,” Campos said.
He said the MDIC was initially fixed at P10,000 in 1963, and then increased to: P15,000 in 1978; P40,000 in 1984; P100,000 in 1992; P250,000 in 2004; and P500,000 in 2009.