About

Embracing a culture of strong adherence to laws and regulations and adopting a pro-active approach to legal risk management, the legal team at Metropolitan Bank & Trust has hit the ground running with its work on prominent transactions and legal cases on behalf of the business. This year alone, the team has already impressed with its handling of the bank’s ₱14.4bn transaction to purchase the shares of its foreign joint venture partner in Metrobank Card Corporation, with the first tranche of the sale completed in January 2018. In December 2017 the team negotiated the settlement of a payment dispute with the foreign assignee of the Bank’s IT service provider, involving an amount exceeding ₱500m. Metrobank’s legal team has also consistently protected the bank’s reputation by fighting financial crime. Last year, the bank’s litigation team contributed to the immediate arrest of a high ranking officer of the bank, who stole billions of pesos by using fake promissory notes. The team subsequently filed three criminal cases and a civil case that enabled the bank to obtain warrants of garnishment that prevented the stolen assets being dissipated by the accused and her cohorts. Comprised of 13 lawyers and 16 non-legal staff, the legal team has recently undergone a reorganisation into a division with three main units: a documentation department, a litigation department and legal support and an administrative and docket department. The team is led Arlene G. Lapuz Ureta, who has been with the company for eight years.