PSBank expects double-digit growth in loans

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) has expressed confidence its loan portfolio would grow double digits this year despite a crisis-induced credit slowdown.

 “We are still on track (with our full year targets), with the mortgage and auto loans taking the lead,” Rolando A. Rodriquez, PSBank executive vice president said in a press briefing yesterday.

In the first three months of 2009, PSBank’s total loan portfolio grew by percent to P42.2 billion.

Last year, gross loans increased 17 percent while consumer loans expanded 16 percent.

PSBank is the thrift bank of the Metrobank Group of Companies. It ranked second in terms of assets among the 26 thrift banks in the country last year.

Majority or roughly 80 percent of its loan portfolio consists of consumer loans, which include mortgage, auto and personal loans. The remainder are loans to the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and corporate sectors.

Demand for auto loans remained good while a slight easing in mortgage loan releases were noted in the first quarter, Rodriguez noted, although loan applications continued to pour in.

“What we noticed is the tendency for the approved loan applicants to hesitate or have second thoughts rather than withdraw their approved loans,” he added.

He said overseas Filipino borrowers, affected by the negative impact of the global crisis on their host countries, were mostly taking a cautious stance in borrowing.

In the past two years, overseas Filipinos were most aggressive in applying for mortgage and auto loans.

“They are affected by what they hear and see overseas rather than the fundamentals of the domestic economy,” PSBank president Pascual M. Garcia III said in an earlier interview.

In fact, Garcia said deposits were growing faster than loans.

PSBank posted a 25-percent growth in deposits by 25 percent in the first three months of 2009, accelerating from the nearly 10-percent growth rate in 2008.

Bank officials also revealed the deposit migration from foreign to domestic banks in the last quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009.

Meanwhile, PSBank is looking to expand by at least 10 branches this year to hit 174 in its network by end 2009.