The thrift-bank sector posted loan growth of 13 percent in 2016, amounting to P777.06 billion, and made possible by stronger lending activities to the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), as well as the housing sector, the Chamber of Thrift Banks (CTB) said on Wednesday.
The CTB said core lending reached P777.06 billion last year, higher compared to the P687.27 billion recorded in 2015.
“Last year thrift banks’ lending grew 13 percent. We expect to exceed that this year. Real-estate lending is a big factor [and] the sustained robust remittances from overseas Filipinos,” CTB President Gregorio B. Anonas III said.
Based on data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), thrift banks in 2015 dedicated 12.53 percent of their loan portfolio to MSMEs.
Medium and small enterprises accounted for 6.07 percent of total loans that year while medium enterprises accounted for another 6.46 percent.
The total credit lent to MSMEs reached P84.05 billion as of end-September 2015.
From the industry’s total loan portfolio in 2016, the real-estate sector received the highest share of loans equal to 31.91 percent, or P247.94 billion.
Individual loans received 35.03 percent, or P272.18 billion, and loans for wholesale, retail trade and repair of motor vehicles was allocated 8.41 percent, or P65.35 billion.
Thrift-bank assets in 2016 posted growth of 8.28 percent equal to P1,077.54 trillion compared to only P995.17 billion in 2015.
Thrift-bank total capital reached P135.89 billion last year, expanding by 6.07 percent from only P128.11 billion in 2015.
“The outlook for the thrift-banking industry is very bright, given the country’s sustained strong macroeconomic fundamentals and the government’s plans to bring progress to the country, that will really help us widen our coverage nationwide,” Anonas said.
Total thrift-bank deposits expanded by 9.44 percent to P872.869 billion in 2016, compared to only P797.607 billion in 2015. Peso time deposits accounted for 60 percent of the deposit base, or P486.84 billion.
Savings deposits accounted for 31 percent, or P253.04 billion of aggregate, while demand deposits accounted for 9 percent, or P75.58 billion.
The number of head offices of thrift banks as of September last year declined to 64, from the 68 in 2015, due to acquisition and conversion activities of the various thrift units, according to the CTB.
“There were certain conversions of status from thrift bank to rural bank. I think some of the microfinance member-banks opted to be converted to rural banks. There were two countryside base members acquired by bigger thrift banks [and] that explains the reduction,” said Suzanne I. Felix, CTB executive director.
So-called real and other properties owned or acquired (ROPA) fell by 1.08 percent in 2016, amounting to P19.825 billion compared to only P19.612 billion in 2015. Its share to gross assets stood at 1.8 percent, from 1.9 percent registered in 2015, due to the continued disposal of acquired assets, according to the CTB.
The soured or nonperforming loans ratio of the industry in 2016 expanded to 4.71 percent, from 4.51 percent in 2015. There was a double-digit surge in lending activities last year.
The industry’s nonperforming assets ratio stood at 5.34 percent, from only 5.15 percent in 2015.