Thrift banks confident of brisk 2017 business

By Riza Lozada

Local thrift banks are optimistic on growth in lending busi­ness despite the impact of the proposed hike in automobile excise tax.

In 2016, the industry’s gross loans reached P777.06 billion, up 13.07 percent than the previous year’s P687.27 billion.

“The outlook for the thrift banking industry is very, 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,” Chamber of Thrift Bank (CTB) president Gregorio Anonas III said.

Anonas said the industry registered a 13 percent ex­pansion on loans in 2016 and it is projected to post higher expansion this year.

“Real estate lending is a big factor,” he added. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) data show that as of end-Decem­ber 2016, the industry’s performing residential real estate loans (RREL) hit P206.57 billion, up from the previous quar­ter’s P199.11 billion.

Non-performing RREL as of end-December last year is lower than P199.3 billion, up from the P192 billion as of end-September 2016.

Excluding interbank loans, the industry’s total loan portfolio stood at P777 billion as of last year, while total non-performing loans (NPL) stood at P36.7 billion.

Anonas said the impact of the comprehensive tax re­form package (CTRP), which calls for an increase in the automobile and fuel excise taxes, among others, is not ex­pected to be big.

“We are anticipating that but not significant. Also, there is a second-hand market for vehicles,” he said.

The CTB chief is also not worried on the expansion pro­grams of universal and commercial banks (U/KBs), citing that thrift banks have more personal relationship with their clients than big banks have.

“We are also able to customize our services to our cli­ents’ needs,” he added.