EastWest Bank probing ‘missing’ deposits

Gotianun-led EastWest Bank is now conducting an investigation on the reported millions of pesos worth of deposits which went missing together with a female branch manager.

In a statement on Thursday, EastWest Bank said it is now in touch with the two owners of the deposits.

“To clarify recent reports and social media posts, we have found out that a branch manager of ours has gone missing together with the deposits of her two customers with whom she had been transacting for years,” the lender said.

The clients, EastWest Bank said, “have been informed that an internal investigation is ongoing and that we will credit back to their account the amount taken.”

“EastWest will always stand by its commitment to protect depositors’ and customers’ money,” it said.

A recent radio report on Monday said that a certain businessman allegedly lost P270-million worth of deposits in his EastWest Bank account.

To clarify the matter, the lender said the amount involved is “confidential” but is “not significant,” since the bank has been among the top three most profitable banks in the country in the past four years.

EastWest Bank did not provide further information on the location of the branch in question as well as the identity of the missing manager.

However, it said that the issue is limited to one branch.

“[B]ut nonetheless we shall put in place additional system-wide safeguards to make sure this isolated incident does not happen again,” the bank said.

EastWest Bank said it expects to post a net income of P7 billion for 2020, higher than its P6.2 billion earnings in 2019 despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We expect to continue our profit run this year,” it said.—LDF, GMA News