“Subok Na Matibay, Subok Na Matatag” (Tested Strong, Proven Stable), the slogan of once well-known and once most popular bank in the Philippines, the Banco Filipino, formerly known as Banco Filipino Savings and Mortgage Bank, but surprisingly, it was closed twice in 1985 and in 2011 in the history of banks in the Philippines.
Banco Filipino started its operation in 1964, founded by Tomas Aguirre and was known as one of the thrift bank. The Aguirre family together with the founder control and manage the aforementioned bank. And In 1965, Banco Filipino innovated and became the first all-woman bank, making it number 1 among the banks back then. Because of its continuous innovation of its services, in 1966 it became the largest savings bank in the Philippines. It also became the first bank to process online transactions in real time in 1969, giving customers the ability to deposit in any online Banco Filipino branch. In 1970, Banco Filipino started expanding into the countryside with its first provincial branch opening in Naga City. By 1972, the bank's customer base grew to one million customers, even in the midst of martial law. Banco Filipino continuous to grew and was voted the most preferred bank in Metro Manila in 1975. By 1981, the Banco Filipino made a record that no other bank could achieved at that time, it had 89 branches, four billion pesos worth of assets, three million customers and three thousand shareholders.
But on the 23rd of July 1984, Banco Filipino declared a self-imposed bank holiday due to illiquidity. Central Bank of the Philippines did not order it closed immediately but placed it under conservatorship a week after the declaration. The central bank infused P3 billion pesos as a credit to help it. After six months of examination and supervision, the BSP released the supervision and examination (SES) report on the 23rd of January 1985. At the recommendation of the report, the Central Bank of the Philippines closed