Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Universal, commercial, and thrift banks’ consumer loans (CLs) posted a full-year growth of 25.1% in 2014, according to figures from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). The statistic amounts to P902.6 billion at the end of the year, from P721.5 billion in the end of 2013.
Consumer loans are those used for personal, family or household purposes. CLs at the end of 2014 comprised of residential real estate loans, auto loans, credit card receivables, and salary loans, among others.
The central bank also noted that 2014’s end-figure is a 6.2% increase from the P849.6 billion a quarter earlier, subsequently sustaining the quarter-on-quarter growth in consumer loans that began in 2008.
Banks’ nonperforming CLs decreased 4.8% relative to the aggregate during the end of last year, compared to the 5.3% contraction notched a year earlier. Commercial and thrift banks have also provisioned for 60.6% of their nonperforming CLs as a cushion for potential credit losses.
The BSP said that Philippine CL exposure to domestic universal, commercial, and thrift banks was the lowest, at 15.9%, compared to Malaysia (57.8%), Indonesia (28.3%), Thailand (27.8%), and Singapore (25.7%).
“The [BSP] monitors consumer and other types of bank lending to ensure the banks’ adherence to high creit standards,” the central bank said in a statement.
“This is essential to fostering financial stability, which is a key policy objective of the BSP.”
