Bank deposits surge to P10.5 trillion
BANK DEPOSITS surged in 2016 to breach the P10-trillion mark, coupled with a steady climb in the number of bank accounts and with a bigger sum covered by the state insurer, the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) said in a report.
Deposits held by Philippine banks soared to P10.495 trillion at end-December to post a 13.9% climb from the P9.218- trillion level in 2015, according to the PDIC’s quarterly report.
The climb in deposits was led by a 14.4% increase in funds placed under commercial banks, which totalled P9.468 trillion in 2016. This also represented over 90% of the total deposits.
Amounts held by thrift lenders also grew by nearly a tenth to P874.8 billion, while those held by rural banks rose by 9% to P151.2 billion.
By type of depositor, personal accounts made up nearly half of the total to reach P5.055 trillion, followed by deposits under private firms at P3.663 trillion, according to PDIC data.
This came as total bank accounts reached 53.955 million by yearend, rising from the 50.946 million tallied the year prior.
“The country’s five largest banks in terms of assets accounted for more than half of the total domestic deposit amount and accounts in the Philippine banking system, aggregating P6 trillion and 30.1 million, respectively,” the PDIC report read.
As of end- September, the five biggest lenders are BDO Unibank, Inc.; Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co.; the state-owned Land Bank of the Philippines; Bank of the Philippine Islands; and
Security Bank Corp., according to central bank data.
Peso accounts amounted to P8.711 trillion, up by 13.3% from 2015 and accounted for 83% of all deposits. On the other hand, foreign currency deposits jumped by 16.8% to reach P1.784 trillion.
Broken down, three- fourths of the total came in the form of savings and time deposits, while demand accounts stood at 22.1%, PDIC data showed.
With the increase in deposits, the PDIC also raised the amount covered by deposit insurance to P2.255 trillion, an 8.9% increase from the previous year’s P2.072-trillion coverage. Relative to the total liabilities, however, the share of insured deposits actually went down to 21.49% from 22.48% as deposit volumes continued to grow.
As the state-run insurer, PDIC is required to cover bank deposits for a maximum of P500,000 per account.
Of all bank accounts, 96.37% are fully covered by deposit insurance while 3.63% are only partially covered, representing those with balances beyond the PDIC’s half- amillion limit.
The PDIC also steps in as receiver for banks ordered closed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, wherein it sells off the lender’s assets in order to settle deposit liabilities and other obligations.