Ted P. Torres, The Philippine Star 

Manila, Philippines -  The board of East West Banking Corp. has approved the issuance of P5 billion worth of long-term negotiable certificate of deposits (LTNCD).

In a report to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), however, the commercial bank of the Filinvest Group said it would file details of the issuance at a later date.

"No details yet as we have to apply with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)," EastWest Bank said.

Since the LTNCD are classified as deposits and not capital, it cannot be used as tier capital required to meet Basel II or Basel III risk-weighting global standards.

These are basically long-term negotiable deposits that may be traded in the secondary market, or used for long-term re-lending.

EastWest Bank recently raised P5.2 billion from an initial public offering (IPO) which is part of the requirement set by the BSP prior to the issuance of a universal (unibank) or expanded commercial banking license. At least 20 percent of the bank's equity must be owned by the public prior to getting its unibank license.

A unibank license will allow the bank to engage in other non-bank financial activities.

Bank officials said the funds raised from the IPO would partly fund its branch network expansion and would also be used as capital to meet Basel II and Basel III capital framework.