Bank assets up 7.5% to P6.421 trillion in 2009

MANILA, Philippines – Total resources of the country’s banking sector went up by 7.5 percent last year as the industry remained stable despite the global financial crisis, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed.

Statistics revealed that total assets of the banking sector reached P6.421 trillion in 2009 or P448 billion more than the industry’s resources of P5.973 trillion in 2008.

Monetary authorities said the banking system’s asset base has been expanding steadily supported by sustained growth in deposits particularly in universal and commercial banks.

Total resources of universal and commercial banks went up by 9.1 percent to P5.694 trillion last year from P5.219 trillion in 2008. The industry accounted for about 88.6 percent of the total resources of the banking industry last year.

Preliminary data showed that the assets of thrift, savings, and rural banks retreated by 3.6 percent to P727.36 billion last year from P754.68 billion in 2008 as reports from other banks have yet to come in. The sector accounted for about 11.3 percent of the total assets of the banking industry.

On the other hand, the assets of non-banks went up by 6.5 percent to P1.532 trillion last year from P1.438 trillion in 2008.

In all, total resources of the country’s financial system increased by 7.3 percent to P7.954 trillion in 2009 from P7.411 trillion in 2008.

BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. earlier said the country’s the banking sector has remained fundamentally sound despite the impact of the global financial crisis.

“Important banking reforms, particularly in the areas of corporate governance, risk management, and asset clean-up, have strengthened the banking system further, boosting its overall performance in terms of higher asset growth, enhanced asset quality, improved profitability and better capitalization,” Tetangco said.

The BSP reported that the number of banks increased to 7,914 as of end-September from 7,898 as of end-June last year. The number of head offices fell further to 797 from 804 indicating the continued consolidation of banks as well as the exit of weaker players in the banking system.

By banking classification, the central bank added that head offices of banks consisted of 38 universal and commercial banks, 73 thrift banks, and 686 rural banks.

On the other hand, operating network including branches of the banking system went up to 7,117 as of end-September last year from 7,094 as of end-June due to the increase in the branches of universal, commercial, and rural banks.

The BSP said the banking system’s asset quality continued to improve as the non-performing loans (NPLs) of banks continued to ease further as of end-September last year.

Data revealed that the soured loans of universal, commercial banks, thrift, and rural banks continued to improve with the steady expansion of the industry’s total loan portfolio.

The NPL ratio of universal and commercial banks eased to 2.969 percent in 2009 from 4.03 percent 2008. This after the total loan portfolio of the banking industry increased by 8.9 percent to P2.724 trillion in 2009 from P2.502 trillion in 2008 while NPLs that refer to past due loan accounts unpaid for 30 days increased by 8.25 percent to P80.91 billion from P88.19 billion. –Lawrence Agcaoili (The Philippine Star)