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ASSETS
held by foreign currency deposit units totaled $23.6
billion at end-2006, nearly 14 percent higher than a
year earlier and representing an all-time high, the
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported on Tuesday.
Some 80
percent of the assets consisted of deposits of $18.8
billion, itself a 14-percent increase from the end-2005
level of only $16.5 billion.
This
number is significant in that FCDU assets are seen as
the country’s second-tier foreign exchange reserve, next
in importance to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ gross
international reserves.
At $23.6
billion, the FCDU assets were “the highest level
recorded” that surpassed the end-1997 peak of $21.7
billion.
Some 96
percent of the assets were owned by expanded license or
the universal banks and their regular commercial bank
counterparts, according to the BSP.
The
thrift banking system, which has FCDU assets of $1
billion, accounted for 4.1 percent of aggregate.
The
FCDUs generated net income reaching $777 million in 2006
or 25 percent higher than 2005’s net income of $622
million.
The BSP
said the FCDUs had an 8.6-percent increase in net
interest income to $568 million and a 44.6-percent rise
in noninterest income during the year.
Complementing these was the 5.4-percent decline in
operating expenses to $126 million.
As a
result, the return on assets stood higher, 3.5 percent
in 2006, versus year-ago level of only 3.1 percent.
The bulk
of earnings from assets, or 96.3 percent, was generated
by the big commercial and expanded license banks; thrift
banks accounted for only 3.7 percent of those earnings,
the BSP said.
Nearly
36 percent of FCDU assets were in the form of marketable
securities, up from only 32.9 percent in 2005.
Of these
investments, only 12.1 percent were held to maturity,
significantly down from 14.6 percent the prior year.
The
FCDUs would also rather invest their assets than lend
them to end users, the BSP noted. --J.
Vallecera |
