Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has revived the proposal to merge the Development Bank of the Philippines and Land Bank of the Philippines, two of the country’s state-run banks. The move is said to be in response to recent financial developments overseas, and Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno has indicated that the merger would create the largest lender in the Philippines in terms of assets. The merger was initially approved by former president Benigno Aquino in 2016, but was later scrapped by his successor Rodrigo Duterte. The consolidation of the two banks would align with previous efforts by the government to streamline the banking sector. Diokno has estimated that the merger would result in cost savings of more than Php5bn (USD92m) in the first year of operation.