Banking

by Elijah Felice Rosales – The Philippine Star, 5 Jan 2022 MANILA, Philippines — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has asked financial firms to look into clients’ non-traditional or alternative data such as social media or online transactions for credit scoring.

by Lawrence Agcaoili – The Philippine Star, 24 Dec 2021 MANILA, Philippines — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has joined the fight against predatory lenders charging an interest rate of as much as 504 percent per annum, as it decided to impose a cap on the charges imposed by lending firms, financing companies and…

by Lawrence Agcaoili – The Philippine Star, 23 Dec 2021 MANILA, Philippines — The proportion of Filipino adults with bank accounts soared to 53 percent in the first quarter from 29 percent in 2019, as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) ramps up its financial inclusion efforts.

by Lawrence Agcaoili – The Philippine Star, 12 Dec 2021 MANILA, Philippines — Financial technology (fintech) companies continue to threaten Philippine banks that remain slow in developing digital services, Moody’s Investors Services said in a report.

by Lawrence Agcaoili – The Philippine Star, 11 Dec 2021 MANILA, Philippines — The asset quality of Philippine banks improved for the second straight month in October as the industry’s gross non-performing loan (NPL) ratio eased to a six-month low of 4.42 percent from the revised 4.44 percent in September, according to the Bangko Sentral…

by Lawrence Agcaoili – The Philippine Star, 1 Dec 2021 MANILA, Philippines — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is pursuing digital solutions to enable offline payments as part of efforts to boost financial inclusion under the government’s Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap.

by Lawrence Agcaoili – The Philippine Star, 9 Oct 2021 MANILA, Philippines — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) expects consumer complaints to exceed 20,000 for the second straight year as more Filipinos warm up to the shift to online banking amid the COVID-19 mobility restrictions.

by Lawrence Agcaoili – The Philippine Star, 3 Oct 2021 MANILA, Philippines — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is further strengthening the risk management system of Philippine banks against climate change as extreme weather events continue to affect the industry’s performance.

by Lawrence Agcaoili – The Philippine Star, 19 Sep 2021 MANILA, Philippines — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is pushing for the passage of a bill that aims to facilitate transactions, arrangements or exchanges of goods and services by promoting the universal use of a safe and efficient digital payments in financial transactions.

BY MAYVELIN U. CARABALLOSEP, Manila Times, 11 Sep 2021 Figures released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Friday showed that the amount of bad loans in the Philippine banking system has risen to over P487 billion as of the end of July this year.

by Lawrence Agcaoili (The Philippine Star), 9 Jul 2021 MANILA, Philippines — Banks’ bad loans climbed for the fifth straight month in May to hit the highest level in almost 13 years as the country continues to struggle amid the resurgence of COVID-19 cases.

(The Philippine Star) 13 Jun 2021 MANILA, Philippines — More Filipinos are embracing digital banking services amid strict lockdown and quarantine measures to slow the spread of COVID-19, according to the Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes study.

(The Philippine Star), 9 Jun 2021 MANILA, Philippines — Electronic money transactions processed by banks and financial technology providers jumped by almost 61 percent to P2.39 trillion in 2020 from P1.49 trillion in 2019 as the shift to digital payments from the traditional mode of cash transactions accelerated amid the pandemic.

by Lawrence Agcaoili (The Philippine Star), 7 Jun 2021 Highest in 12 years MANILA, Philippines — The non-performing loan (NPL) ratio of Philippine banks accelerated for the fourth straight month as bad debts continued to soar amid the resurgence of COVID-19 cases in the country.

by Lawrence Agcaoili (The Philippine Star), 17 May 2021 MANILA, Philippines — A continued increase in bad loans from the real estate sector and household consumption contributed mainly to the growth of the non-performing loan (NPL) ratio of Philippine banks, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

by Lawrence Agcaoili (The Philippine Star), 11 May 2021 MANILA, Philippines — The gross non-performing loan (NPL) ratio of the banking sector rose for the third straight month to a fresh 11-year high of 4.21 percent in March from 4.08 percent in February as soured loans continued to soar amid the resurgence of COVID-19 cases,…

by Lawrence Agcaoili (The Philippine Star), 11 Apr 2021 MANILA, Philippines — The asset quality of Philippine banks further deteriorated for the second straight month in February as the industry’s gross non-performing loan (NPL) ratio rose to 4.08 percent, the highest in more than 11 years due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, according…

by Lawrence Agcaoili (The Philippine Star), 19 Mar 2021 MANILA, Philippines — More Filipinos are now using digital commerce platforms and cashless payments due to the pandemic, according to the latest survey conducted by Visa.

by Daxim L. Lucas, Julie M. Aurelio, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 14 Feb 2021 MANILA, Philippines — Do you feel cash machine withdrawal fees are too high? Look around because, starting April 7, automated teller machines (ATM) may charge different rates for the same transaction under new rules approved by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

By Luz Wendy T. Noble, BusinessWorld, 4 Feb 2021 BANK LENDING contracted for the first time in over 14 years in December, as lenders tightened credit standards and demand for loans remained weak amid the recession.

by Lawrence Agcaoili (The Philippine Star), 11 Jan 2021 From January to November 2020 MANILA, Philippines — The gross non-performing loan (NPL) ratio of Philippine banks accelerated for the 11th straight month to hit the highest level in more than seven years as the industry’s bad debts surged by 74 percent due to the impact…

by Mary Grace Padin (The Philippine Star), 5 Dec 2020 MANILA, Philippines — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has released the guidelines for the establishment of digital banks as it seeks to promote innovation in the banking sector and improve the accessibility of financial products to Filipinos.

by Lawrence Agcaoili (The Philippine Star), 30 Sep 2020 MANILA, Philippines — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has approved the guidelines of a new law extending a 60-day grace period for the repayment of all existing loans to ease the burden of consumers and companies severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

by Lawrence Agcaoili (The Philippine Star), 20 Sep 2020 MANILA, Philippines — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has directed banks and other financial institutions to immediately comply with the provisions of a new law including the 60-day reprieve on loan payments amid the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 pandemic.

by Lawrence Agcaoili (The Philippine Star), 26 Aug 2020 MANILA, Philippines — The non-performing loan ratio (NPL) of local banks may double to 4.6 percent by end-December from 2.4 percent in March as businesses and consumers grapple with the impact of the pandemic, according to a survey conducted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

by Daxim L. Lucas, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 19 Aug 2020 MANILA, Philippines — The central bank’s automated consumer concerns interface, that can be accessed via its website, text messaging or via social media, has gone “live” and can now be used for bringing complaints against financial institutions to regulators.

by Lawrence Agcaoili (The Philippine Star), 13 Aug 2020 MANILA, Philippines — The non-performing loan (NPL) ratio of banks rose for the sixth straight month to hit its highest level in almost six years at 2.53 percent in June from 2.43 percent in May, as past due and restructured loans continued to rise due to…

by Daxim L. Lucas, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 27 Jul 2020 No thanks to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Philippine banks tightened their loan standards unequivocally for the first time in the 11 years that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has been surveying senior loan officers to gauge their appetite for lending.

Eyes enrollment of 2,000 bank accounts per day via mobile app By: Ben O. de Ver, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 30 June 2020 Overseas Filipino Bank (OFBank) is targetting to enroll up to 2,000 bank accounts a day among Filipinos living and working abroad as the digital-only and branch-less lender unveiled its mobile app to make…

By Mark T. Amoguis, Assistant Research Head, BusinessWorld, 15 Jun 2020 IN THE BUSINESS lexicon, “high-tech, low-touch” refers to the process that involves high levels of automation accompanied by low-level or no personal interaction.