Universal Robina downplays alleged P900-M fraud in Metrobank account

Snack food giant Universal Robina Corp. (URC) on Friday downplayed the P900-million internal fraud involving its bank account in Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. (Metrobank) allegedly committed by a senior bank official.

"We are aware that URC and its account at Metrobank have been mentioned in an apparent internal Metrobank issue involving fraud," the company said in a statement.

This comes after the Philippine Daily Inquirer early Friday broke the news that a top official of Metrobank allegedly siphoned disbursed loans into fictitious accounts under the name of the Gokengwei-led food manufacturer.

With this URC assured that it will be unaffected by the reported internal fraud.

"Even as Metrobank continues to conduct an internal investigation on the matter, we would like to assure everyone that URC will not incur any financial loss whatsoever and that the integrity and security of URC and its active accounts at Metrobank remain unaffected by the said incident," the company said.

URC thanked Metrobank president Fabian Dee for informing the company ahead on the said "unfortunate" development.

The snack food giant also mentioned that Dee gave the company an assurance that it will not be financially impacted in any way by this incident.

"We take this occasion to also reiterate our confidence with Metrobank as we continue to conduct regular business as usual transactions with them," it said. —KG, GMA News