A SENIOR official of the Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. (Metrobank) suspected of orchestrating an elaborate fraud scheme to embezzle millions of pesos from the second largest bank in the country was arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) last July 17.
In a statement released by Metrobank on Friday, July 21, it said that the authorities have already arrested last Monday the alleged mastermind of the P900-million internal fraud.
NBI sources identified the suspect as Maria Victoria Lopez, vice president of the corporate services unit in Metrobank's Makati City head office.
The Metrobank assured the public that none of its clients have been affected by the incident that may have lost as much as P2.5 billion.
"The bank is reinforcing its commitments to the highest standard of integrity and upholds the protection of its customers as its main priority," it said.
"No customer has been affected by this incident. In the context of the bank's P1.9 trillion financial resources rest assured that we continue to operate business as usual for the bank and our customers," it added.
The management also said it cannot comment further as the case has already been filed against Lopez.
Lopez, 54, now detained at the NBI headquarters in Manila, was accused of funneling loans into fake accounts in the name of a legitimate client, Universal Robina Corporation.
The funds allegedly went to other accounts and financial institutions controlled by Lopez.
Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Nestor Espenilla in a statement said they will look into the issue, particularly on how a sole official was able to rob such a huge amount from the bank.
Espenilla also said they will look into the adequacy of the controls being used by banks in the country to prevent electronic fraud.
"Our banks have their natural internal controls precisely to prevent these things from happening," he said.
"So we will have to look into the adequacy of those controls if in fact, a significant crime happened within the bank," he added.
Espenilla said "no system is perfect" but believes that Metrobank is resilient to such issues. (SunStar Philippines)