MANILA, April 17 -- Maybank Philippines and a foreign company plan to establish Islamic banking operations in the country, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said on Wednesday.

In a briefing at the BSP Office in Manila, BSP Assistant Governor for Financial Supervision Sub-sector 3 Arifa Ala said Maybank plans to open an Islamic banking window.

"It has a plan. It plans to open an Islamic banking window... We are seeing two potential applicants, but they have not yet submitted applications. But we have held meetings with them already, discussing the requirements for establishing the Islamic banking unit," Ala said.

She added that Maybank and another foreign firm still have not submitted an application as of today.

"But we've heard in...