SEC. 14. No foreign bank or banking corporation formed, organized or existing under any laws other than those of the Republic of the Philippines shall be permitted to transact business in the Philippines, or maintain by itself or assignee any suit for the recovery of any debt, claims, or demand whatsoever, until after it shall have obtained, upon order of the Monetary Board, a license for that purpose from the Securities and Exchange Commissioner. Any officer, director or agent of any such corporation who transacts business in the Philippines without the said license shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one year nor more than ten years and by a fine of not less than one thousand pesos nor more than ten thousand pesos. For the issuance of such license to any foreign bank, the Securities and Exchange Commissioner shall collect a fee in proportion to the corporate capital of such bank in accordance with the schedule established in section eight of Act Numbered Fourteen hundred and fifty-nine, as amended.
No order for a license shall be issued by the Monetary Board unless and until it is convinced that the public interest and economic conditions, both general and local, justify the issuance of such order; that the foreign bank or banking corporation is solvent and in sound financial condition; and that a duly appointed agent in the Philippines has been authorized to accept summons and legal processes.
SEC. 15. No foreign building and loan association or building and loan association not formed, organized or existing under the laws of the Philippines shall be permitted to transact business in the Philippines.
SEC. 16. The Monetary Board, by the affirmative vote of at least five of its members and with the approval of the President of the Philippines, may revoke the license to transact business in the Philippines of any foreign bank or banking corporation not formed, organized, or existing under the laws of the Philippines, if the said Board finds after due investigation at which such bank or banking corporation is given a chance to be heard by itself or counsel, that the foreign bank or banking corporation is in imminent danger of insolvency or that its continuance in business will involve probable loss to those transacting business with it. After the revocation of its license, it shall be unlawful for any such foreign bank or banking corporation to transact business in the Philippines unless its license is renewed or reissued. After the revocation of such license the Solicitor General shall take such proceedings as may be proper to protect creditors of such foreign bank or banking institution and the public.
SEC. 17. Summons and legal process served upon the Philippine agent of any foreign banking corporation designated to accept service thereof shall give jurisdiction to the courts over such banking corporation, and service of notices on such agent shall be as binding upon the corporation which he represents as if made upon the corporation itself.
Should the authority of such agent to accept service of summons and legal processes for the corporation or notice to it be revoked, or should such agent become mentally incompetent or otherwise unable to accept service while exercising such authority, it shall be the duty of the corporation to name and designate promptly another agent upon whom service of summons and process in legal proceedings against the corporation and of notices affecting the corporation may be made, and to file with the Securities and Exchange Commissioner a duly authenticated nomination of such agent.
Should there be no person authorized by the corporation upon whom service of summons, processes, and all legal notices may be made, service of summons, processes and legal notices may be made upon the Superintendent of Banks and such service shall be as effective as if made upon the corporation or upon its duly authorized agent. In case of service for the corporation upon the Superintendent of Banks, the said Superintendent shall register and transmit by mail to the president or the secretary of the corporation at its head or principal office a copy, duly certified by him, of the summons, process, or notice. The sending of such copy of the summons, process, or notice shall be a necessary part of the service and shall complete the service. The registry receipt of mailing shall be prima facie evidence of the transmission of the summons, process or notice. All costs necessarily incurred by the said Superintendent for the making and mailing and sending of a copy of the summons, process, or notice to the president or the secretary of the corporation at its head or principal office shall be paid in advance by the party at whose instance the service is made.
SEC. 18. In all matters not specifically covered by special provisions applicable only to foreign banks, or their branches and agencies in the Philippines, any foreign banking corporation or foreign bank not formed, organized, or existing under the laws of the Philippines but lawfully doing business in the Philippines shall be bound by all laws, rules, and regulations applicable to domestic banking corporations of the same class, except such laws, rules and regulations as provided for the creation, formation, organization, or dissolution of corporations or as fix the relation, liabilities, responsibilities, or duties of members, stockholders, or officers of corporations, to each other or to the corporation.
SEC. 19. Residents and citizens of the Philippines who are creditors of a branch or agency in the Philippines of a foreign bank or banking corporation shall have preferential rights to the assets of such branch or agency.
Source: Supreme Court E-Library, Republic of the Philippines. Philippine laws are public documents (works of the government).
