1 day ago
6
Keisha Ta-Asan - The Philippine Star
March 23, 2025 | 12:00am
The financial system booked a 7.9-percent growth in assets to P33.66 trillion as of January from P31.18 trillion in the same period in 2024. These resources include funds and assets such as deposits, capital, bonds and debt securities.
Philstar.com / Irra Lising
MANILA, Philippines — The total resources of the country’s financial system grew by almost eight percent as of end-January amid continued asset expansion in bank and non-bank financial institutions, preliminary data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed.
The financial system booked a 7.9-percent growth in assets to P33.66 trillion as of January from P31.18 trillion in the same period in 2024. These resources include funds and assets such as deposits, capital, bonds and debt securities.
The growth in resources was mainly driven by the 9.1-percent expansion in banks, which rose to P27.95 trillion as of January from P25.62 trillion a year ago. It accounted for 83.1 percent of the financial industry’s total assets.
Banks include universal and commercial, thrift, digital as well as rural and cooperative lenders.
Broken down, the assets of universal and commercial banks stood at P26.14 trillion as of January, 8.9 percent higher than the P24 trillion recorded in the same period last year. Big banks alone covered 77.7 percent of the sector’s total resources.
Thrift banks also booked a 7.4-percent increase in total resources to P1.16 trillion from P1.08 trillion. Mid-sized banks cornered 3.4 percent of the overall resources.
The digital banking sector also saw its total resources jump by 44 percent to P133.3 billion as of January from P92.6 billion a year ago.
The six digital banks that secured licenses to operate in the country were Tonik Digital Bank, GoTyme Bank, Maya Bank, Overseas Filipino Bank, UNObank and UnionDigital Bank.
The assets of rural and cooperative banks stood at P527.1 billion as of end-January, 18.1 percent higher than the P446.5 billion a year before.
Meanwhile, the central bank has yet to release its updated data for non-banking financial institutions.
Resources of non-banks reached P5.7 trillion as of end-June 2024. Non-bank institutions include BSP-supervised investment houses, financing and investment companies, securities dealers and brokers, pawnshops and lending investors.
They also cover non-stock savings and loan associations, credit card companies, state non-bank financial institutions and authorized agent banks.
