Bank resources up slightly to P8.229T in Jan-Feb

MANILA, Philippines - Bank resources bounced back in February as a slight decrease in funding for big lenders was more than offset by an increase in those of thrift banks, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed.

Assets of local lenders hit P8.229 trillion for the first two months, inching up from P8.225 trillion by end-January, BSP data showed. Bank resources stood at P8.356 trillion as of end last year.

The strength of the local banks have been repeatedly highlighted by the BSP, which said lenders have more than enough resources to lend to consumers and investors and finance activity to boost growth.

Credit raters have also took notice of this, keeping good ratings at some of the Philippine banks for their high capital and deposit base as well as huge reserves to cover potential losses.

Broken down, the bulk of the banking industry’s resources were cornered by universal and commercial lenders. A total of P7.365 trillion was kept by these banks, 0.22 percent lower than P7.381 trillion last January.

On the other hand, thrift banks, whose primary task is to collect deposits, increased their holdings by 3.1 percent to P676.42 billion from P656.08 billion previously.

Rural banks, meanwhile, kept the value of their assets steady at P187.62 billion, data showed.

Resources of non-bank financial institutions remained high at P2.120 trillion, unchanged from their January and year-end levels.

According to the central bank, non-bank financial institutions include investment houses, finance and investment companies, security dealers and brokers, pawnshops, loan associations and private and state-owned insurance firms.