Banking & Finance

Rural banks (RBs) are fast disappearing, based on the Rural Bankers’ Association of the Philippines (RBAP) latest count, which showed that, within the last nine months, 23 small banks have closed shop, mainly as a result of stricter capitalization rules imposed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

By Riza Lozada  Major lender Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. (Metrobank) reduced to 12 from 14 its number of directors to improve compliance with corporate governance best practices.

The Bureau of the Treasury’s liability-management deal, jointly managed by the state-owned Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and other banks, was awarded the deal of the year prize at the Investment House Association of the Philippines (IHAP) Awards 2016. The Philippines closed on Sept. 9, 2015, this domestic liability-management transaction. 

By Jerry Maglunog Due to the growing number of banks that are included in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’s (BSP) prompt and corrective action (PCA) list, the central bank is stepping up its supervisory policy to target bank owners, directors and major shareholders of ailing banks.

The projects of a growing number of firms that are setting up business in the country will be funded via syndicated loans, as the amount needed for them is growing to a level that a sole lender cannot afford to put it up, several investment bankers have said.

Sluggish economic growth in the Asia-Pa­cific region in 2016 is a key risk for banks in the region, credit watch­dog Standard and Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P) said in a report.

By Jerry Maglunog Big banks, particularly universal banks (unibanks), have a natural edge over smaller banks when it comes to lending opportunities particularly on big-ticket projects, a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) official said.

Local banks are likely to benefit in 2016 from the domestic economy’s good growth prospects, and the banks’ healthy capitalization and asset quality, a report of credit watchdog Standard and Poors Ratings Services (S&P) said. These factors underpin its stable outlook on the Philippines’s banking sector, S&P said in a report titled “The The Philippines’s Supportive Economy Underpins a Stable …

By Riza Lozada The Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. (Metrobank), the country’s biggest lender, reported a 20-percent increase in its core earnings, ending 2015 with a consolidated net income of P18.6 billion. The bank’s total resources stood at P1.8 trillion.

By Jerry Maglunog Banks are busy expanding their consumer-loan program, targeting the salaried sector with mostly thrift banks going head-to-head in this regard.