EastWest vows to ‘promptly return’ depositors’ lost money

East West Banking Corp. (EastWest Bank) will “promptly return” the money of its two depositors believed to have been taken by a missing branch manager.

“We confirm that a branch manager of EastWest Bank has gone missing,” the Gotianun-led bank said in a disclosure to the local bourse on Monday.

The lender last week confirmed media reports that the money of two of its depositors went missing together with an unnamed branch manager. The manager and the depositors had been “transacting for years,” it said.

EastWest Bank said the amount that was taken “is not significant in relation to the bank’s earnings and total resources,” but did not disclose other details due to customer confidentiality and rules on bank secrecy.

“We take this opportunity to reiterate that EastWest will always stand by its commitment to protect depositors’ and customers’ money and will promptly return any missing deposits once the amount is established,” it said.

“We have been in touch with the two affected depositors and they have been informed that an internal investigation is ongoing,” EastWest Bank added.

The bank has also said that the incident only happened in one branch and was an “isolated” case.

EastWest Bank posted a P5.9-billion net income in the first nine months of 2020, up 28% year on year.

Shares in the bank edged up by four centavos to P10.38 each on Monday. — BML