The Philippines' banking sector escaped with nothing more
than a black eye from the 1998 financial crisis. However the
shenanigans of Joseph Erap Estrada proved more of a challenge.
Estrada was the catalyst for bringing one bank to its knees and
raising the threat of systemic risk for the whole sector.
The merged entity Equitable PCI, in existence for only two years,
has rarely been out of the headlines. In 1999, George Go, president
of a small family-run bank called Equitable, decided he wanted a
larger piece of the action. In fact, he wanted to be at the helm of
the biggest bank in the Philippines. And he was prepared to do
anything to get there. Go approached his close friend, president
Joseph Erap Estrada, and told him how he needed help buying PCI
Bank, the country's third largest. Estrada agreed.
A few days later Equitable launched...
