Banks' bad loans decline

THE amount of bad loans in the Philippine banking sector decreased to P429.48 billion at the end of May, data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Wednesday showed. Gross nonperforming loans (NPLs) held by lenders were down 10.50 percent even as the overall loan portfolio climbed by 7.22 percent to P11.44 trillion from P10.66 trillion a year ago.

NPLs are defined by the BSP as "loans, investments, receivables or any financial asset that are considered impaired under existing accounting standards, classified as doubtful or loss, in litigation, or with signs that full repayment of principal and interest is unlikely without foreclosure of collateral, if any."