BSP: PH total financial resources up 8%

MANILA – The latest data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed that the country’s financial system has total resources of P28.415 trillion as of end-February this year, up 8.2 percent from same period last year of P26.262 trillion.

Total resources include both banks and non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs). According to the BSP, banks contributed P23.489 trillion of total resources. This was up by 10 percent from end-February 2021’s P21.345 trillion.

Resources from the banking system come from deposits, capital infusion and bond issuances. Banks include the big banks or the universal and commercial banks, thrift banks and rural/cooperative banks.

The big banks accounted for P22.073 trillion of the P23.489 trillion banking resources, while thrift banks reported P1.013 trillion. Both big banks and thrift banks’ end-February resources are 9.7 percent and 8.6 percent higher compared to the previous year’s P21.345 trillion and P933 billion, respectively.

As for the rural and cooperative banking sector, they had resources amounting to P403 billion which was 26.4 percent higher than same period last year of P341 billion.

The non-banks’ total resources have lag time in reporting and the latest was end-September 2022. As such, its latest resources stood at P4.926 trillion, up 0.18 percent from P4.917 trillion in 2022.

Non-banks are investment houses, finance companies, investment companies, securities dealers/brokers, pawnshops and lending investors. Non Stocks Savings and Loan Associations, credit card companies under the BSP supervision, private insurance firms, Social Security System and the Government Service Insurance System are also classified as NBFIs.

During a Philippine Economic Briefing in Washington DC recently, BSP Governor Felipe M. Medalla said the domestic financial and banking conditions are consistent with long-term growth.

“No shortcuts. No boom and bust. We try to keep growth as steady as possible and to make sure that the banks are strong so that the economy will be supported by price stability, financial stability and the payment system that we support,” Medalla told US investors.

The BSP as of end-2022 monitors and supervises 45 big banks, 43 thrift banks and 403 rural/cooperative banks. Since last year, the BSP has approved six digital banks but they are not yet included in the 2022 financial resources tally.

There are currently 1,343 non-banks without quasi banking functions such as pawnshops, and five non-banks with quasi banking functions.

Based on the end-June 2022 Banking Sector Outlook Survey (BSOS) of the BSP, which was released on April 3, local banks continue to be resilient and most banks expect to sustain its growth path in the next two years with a recovering economy post-pandemic, amid adequate liquidity and capital buffers which can shield it against any external risks.

The BSP said banks are planning to maintain risk-based capital, leverage, and liquidity ratios at levels higher than domestic and global standards to support expansion in their operations and promote institutional stability.