FCDU loans up 7.1% in Q3 – BSP

Banks’ foreign currency deposit units’ (FCDU) loans were up 7.1 percent as of end-September 2017 to $15 billion from end-June’s $14 billion, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Nestor A. Espenilla Jr. said in a statement over the weekend.

The outstanding loans granted by FCDUs were higher by $990 million as disbursements exceeded principal repayments.

“The maturity mix of the loan portfolio remained biased towards medium- to long-term debt (or those payable over a term of more than one year), which represented 75 percent of total,” according to the BSP.

Borrowers of FCDU loans were in the following sectors: Towing, tanker, trucking and forwarding with $3.5 billion or 23.4 percent of total; merchandise and service exporters with $3.2 billion or 21.5 percent; public utility firms with $1.7 billion or 11.2 percent.

FCDU loans also went to producers/manufacturers, including oil companies which borrowed $600 million or 4.1 percent of total, and management/ holding and stock brokerage also with $600 million or four percent.

The BSP said gross disbursements were up 2.8 percent quarter-on-quartr to $14.4 billion during the period. About 88.5 percent are short-term maturities or those with original maturities of up to one year. “Loan repayments, on the other hand, dropped by 6.6 percent, resulting in overall net disbursements of $986 million,” said the BSP.

The central bank reported that as of end-September, FCDU deposit liabilities increased by 5.1 percent to $39.1 billion from $37.2 billion end-June. Still, the BSP said the 97.4 percent of deposits were held by residents.

“The overall loan-to-deposit ratio increased to 38.4 percent from 37.6 percent in June with the faster expansion in loan portfolio vis-à-vis that for FCDU deposits,” it added.