Banking & Finance

Asia-Pacific real-estate investment trust (REITs) have built up strong credit foundations that will stand them in good stead to withstand a market shock, Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Global Ratings said in a report.

By Riza Lozada The overall balance-of-payments (BOP) surplus in 2016 is expected to taper off to $2.0 billion from $2.2 billion in the December 2015 projection, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported. 

Credit-rating firm Fitch Ratings has backed findings of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on the possibility of a real-estate price bubble, as property prices continue to rise amid the rapid improvement in the economy and the business-process outsourcing (BPO) boom.

Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) is focusing on its core lending business to drive profit, which, in the first four months, grew by 28.1 percent. 

Business confidence is up, based on the quarterly Business Expectation Survey (BES) of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

Former directors and officers of the failed LBC Development Bank Inc. (LBC Bank) were charged in a new round of criminal cases due to unsound practices that sent the lender into bankruptcy, according to the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC).

PNB Savings Bank has launched the country’s first digital and mobile-lending facility, targeted at pensioners of the government’s Social Security System (SSS) and powered by a platform called Lendr, which was developed by PLDT digital innovations unit Voyager Innovations. 

The thrift bank of state pension fund Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), GSIS Family Bank, was shut down and placed under the receivership of the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) receivership last Friday.

The Philippine National Bank (PNB) is reviewing the financial profiles of rural banks (RBs) for a possible acquisition.

By Jerry Maglunog Nearly 90 percent of goods bought with credit cards are consumer items, making the local economy household lending-driven.