Bank resources grow 9% in Q1– BSP

The domestic banking system had total resources of trillion at the end of the first quarter, up 9.06 percent from the same period in 2014 of trillion.

An improving economy and savings rate, and a more competitive banking sector continue to propel industry growth as the number of depositors and borrowers are increasing.

Based on the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’s (BSP) latest statistics, the large lenders accounted for trillion of the total, this was 8.96 percent higher than the previous year’s trillion.

More than 90 percent of the banking industry’s entire resource base is controlled by the 36 universal and commercial banks. Other than loans, the growth in total resources also came from the expansion in securities and other non-financial assets.

The BSP have yet to update thrift banks’ total resources, which as of endFebruary reached billion, 11.47 percent more compared to the same period last year of billion.

The central bank also report nonbanking institutions’ resources but this is delayed. The latest numbers are still end-2014 tally which amounted to trillion from trillion in 2013. These non-banks include investment houses, finance companies, investment firms, pawnshops and securities dealers/brokers.

Similarly time-lagged, the smaller rural banks’ total resources was reported at billion as of end-2014 from billion in 2013.

BSP numbers show that overall, the entire resources of the Philippine financial system amounted to trillion as of end-March this year. This was 8.56 percent higher compared to the same period in 2014 of trillion.

BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said recently that the banking sector has been growing alongside the favorable macroeconomic environment.

“The numbers do change but we have seen the resources of the Philippine banking industry grow at a steady pace due to the continuous increase in deposits from the public,” said Tetangco.

Tetangco said the build up in deposits is critical in that one, it reaffirms the confidence of the public to the banking system and two, it creates demand for loans.

The BSP chief said since the public is entrusting their savings to the banks more, it is easier to capture how much savings are in the system. “(These deposits) fuels the availability of more loanable funds and we have noted that the increased credit exposures have been without deterioration in asset quality,” Tetangco noted.