|
By Maricel E. Burgonio, Reporter
DELINQUENCY ratios in the country’s banks
improved as lenders issued a smaller amount of corporate and
consumer loans last year, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.
BSP Deputy Gov. Nestor Espenilla Jr. said the
overall delinquency ratio improved to 7.7 percent last year from 8.3
percent in 2006.
“Concentration of credit risk in consumer
loans is more diversified compared [with] corporate loans but [the]
overall delinquency ratio improved,” he said.
Consumer loan growth fell to 18 percent last
year from a peak of 25 percent in 2006, with the rise driven by
steady inflows of overseas Filipino workers’ (OFW) remittances,
the growth in the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, and a
boom in the tourism sector.
Consumer finance outpaced the growth of
corporate lending, which fell from 12.5 percent to 8 percent last
year.
Espenilla said the improvement in banks’
credit risk management and the enactment of the Credit Information
System Act, which is still pending in Congress, will further boost
consumer lending.
Total loan portfolio grew 10.9 percent last year
compared with 10 percent in the previous year.
Espenilla said banks need to base their capital
requirements on their operations and not on BSP’s required minimum
capital adequacy ratio of 10 percent.
“Banks should not hit the 10 percent BSP
requirement but put [up] the capital they need,” he said.
Banks’ capital position grew by 5.8 percent to
P601.8 billion due to the implementation of stricter capital
standards under Basel 2.
Espenilla expects banks to be more prudent in
their credit decisions due to Basel 2, stringent corporate
governance rules, and improved credit risk management.
Based on the BSP’s latest report, bank lending
increased slightly last February on modest demand for credit by
major industries.
Loans extended by commercial, thrift and rural
banks grew 9.4 percent year on year, slightly higher than the
9.3-percent rise in January. The amount of loans outstanding stood
at P1.904 billion in February from P1.704 billion in the same month
last year but lower than the P1.918 billion in January.
|
