Last February 4th, Senate Bill 3280 (House Bill 4867) was approved on its third reading. A bicameral committee composed of Congressmen Apostol, Romarate, Mandanas and Villafuerte and Senators Osmena, Lacson and Pangilinan convened the following day and agreed on a reconciled version of the senate and house bills thereby paving the way for the lower house to transmit the bill to the President for his approval.

A key point of the approved bill touches on capitalization requirements. Instead of the current Minimum Paid-up Capital, the new basis will be Net Worth defined as paid-up capital plus retained earnings plus unimpaired surplus plus revaluation of assets. The following build-up schedule has been noted:

By 30 June 2013 – Php 250m networth

By 30 June 2016 – Php 550m networth

By 30 June 2019 -Php 900m networth

By 30 June 2022 – Php 1.3b networth