Banking & Finance

By Jerry Maglunog When the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) raised the minimum paid-up capital for rural banks (RB), it sent an underlying message for small struggling banks to merge for survival. Under the new memorandum, anyone who wants to put up an RB needs at least P10 million, if it is located in a fifth-class municipality.

By Riza Lozada All banknotes issued in 1985 or earlier ceases to become a legal tender starting 2017, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said last week as it launched an information campaign on the demonetization.

By Jerry Maglunog Farming is the source of revenues of half of the local labor force. If there are about 44 million workers, more than 20 million of them are likely farmers.

By Jerry Maglunog Gold holdings are important as it is one of the components of gross international reserves (GIR), the money spent by a country’s central bank to sustain importation expenses and pay maturing debts.

By Jerry Maglunog As the market for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) remains so big at about 92 percent, more banks have pledged to increase their exposure to MSMEs as an admission that the sector is too huge to ignore.

By Jerry Maglunog With the closure of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) special deposit account (SDA), banks are now scrambling to have alternatives where to put their money.

By Jerry Maglunog When the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) removed restrictions in opening branches of banks in Metro Manila in July 2014, it changed the competition in unibanking in the country’s main district.

The disbursement of Official Development Assistance (ODA), or low-cost bilateral funds for government projects and programs, tripled in the fourth quarter of last year compared to the same period the year before, National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) figures showed.

Jerry Maglunog Seventy percent of all ATMs (automated teller machines) in the country or over 7,000 ATMs are magnets for skimmers who victimize unsuspecting depositors of their cash via unauthorized withdrawals from their accounts. The reason: most of the ATMs are not equipped with pin pad shield, the most basic element to prevent skimmers from taking advantage of the ATM …

Jerry Maglunog Most rural banks (RBs) collapse due to mismanagement and cruel dynasty led by kin who run the bank, according to Sen. Sergio Osmena III, chairman of the Senate Committee on Banks and Financial Institutions.