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Thrift Banks' Bad Loans Rise in August

Wednesday, 03 December, 2008

Non-performing loans (NPL) in the Philippine thrift banking sector remained in the single-digit level in August despite an uptick in unpaid accounts.

Data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed that as of end-August, the NPL of the thrift banking group stood at 6.63 percent, up 0.29 percentage points from July's 6.34 percent.

The August figure is 0.23 percent lower than the NPLs posted in the same month last year.

"The industry was able to sustain a single-digit NPL ratio for the past 41 months; and pinned it below the pre-crisis ratio of 7.74 percent (as of end-June 1997) for the past 14 months," the BSP said.

Without counting interbank loans, the central bank said NPL in thrift banks rose to 7.08 percent in August from 6.90 percent in July as bad credit loans built up faster than core lending.

Meanwhile, non-performing assets of thrift banks climbed to 9.55 percent in August from 9.28 percent in July as the acquisition of real and other properties grew.

The NPL coverage ratio in August stood at 50.89 percent while the NPA coverage ratio for the same month was
at 27.89 percent.

Source: http://www.gmanews.tv/