Combined assets of Philippine banks exceed P7-t mark—BSP

Combined assets of Philippine banks exceed P7-t mark—BSP
by Roderick T. dela Cruz

Combined resources of Philippine banks hit the P7-trillion mark at the end of March this year, adding more than half a trillion pesos over a 12-month period when the economy expanded rapidly.

Bangko Sentral's data showed that the total resources of the more than 750 banks in the country reached P7.121 trillion as of March this year, up P614 billion, or 9.4 percent, from P6.507 trillion year-on-year.

The banks' total resources at 7.121 trillion were equivalent to more than 80 percent of the country's gross domestic product of P8.5 trillion in 2010. More advanced Asian economies such as Singapore have financial resources representing over 100 percent of their GDP.

Including the resources of non-bank financial institutions including insurance firms, the total resources of the financial system hit P8.932 trillion as of March, up 8.7 percent from P8.215 trillion a year ago.

Universal and commercial banks continued to account for the bulk of the banking system's total resources. The 38 universal and commercial banks in the country increased their assets by 10 percent to P6.351 trillion as of March from P5.774 trillion a year ago.

These banks included 11 domestic universal banks, five foreign universal banks, three government-owned universal banks, eight private commercial banks, nine foreign commercial banks and two state-run commercial banks.

Meanwhile, the 73 thrift/savings banks had total resources of P593 billion as of March, up 6.8 percent from P555 billion year-on-year. The rest of the amount was accounted for by rural and cooperative banks.

There were 607 rural banks, 40 cooperative banks, and 6,507 non-bank financial institutions, dominated by pawnshops, as of December 2010.

Meanwhile, the Bangko Sentral said it would collect P20 million as licensing fee per branch to be established by a universal or commercial bank in the previously restricted areas of Metro Manila. The licensing fee per branch of thrift bank was set at P15 million.

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