Banking
From The Report: Philippines 2014
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The Philippines banking sector has strengthened significantly in recent years, tracking general economic trends and benefitting from prudent measures put into place over time to boost capital and improve supervision, corporate governance and transparency. The local institutions that emerged from the late 1990s are stable and more wary of excessive risk and asset-liability imbalances. The challenge now is to build off this foundation and to further develop the sector so it can deal with new risks while funding economic growth.
This chapter contains interviews with Amando M Tetangco Jr., Governor, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas; and a Roundtable with Nestor Tan, President, Banco de Oro Unibank (BDO); Gilda Pico, President, Landbank of the Philippines; Fabian Dee, President, Metrobank; and Cezar Consing, President, Bank of the Philippine Islands.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Sound sector: Recent reforms and ongoing efforts promise to further bolster positive trends
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The Philippine banking sector has strengthened significantly in recent years, tracking general economic trends and benefitting from prudent measures put into place over time to boost capital and improve supervision, corporate governance and transparency. Most institutions are now in good shape. They are both profitable and sound, able not only to play a vital role in the growing economy but also to withstand volatility along the way. Like many banking sectors in East Asia, that in the Philippines…

Interview

OBG talks to Amando Tetangco Jr, Governor, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)
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Interview: Amando Tetangco Jr What efforts have been made to minimise speculation and shifts in capital flows? AMANDO TETANGCO: Over the last few years, inflows to the Philippines have been driven by both pull and push factors. Pull factors refer to the relatively good economic growth prospects in the Philippines, and push factors include the accommodative monetary policies in advanced economies. After the Philippines received its first investment-grade sovereign credit rating in March 2013 from…

Interview

OBG talks to Amando Tetangco Jr, Governor, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)
OBG
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Interview: Amando Tetangco Jr What efforts have been made to minimise speculation and shifts in capital flows? AMANDO TETANGCO: Over the last few years, inflows to the Philippines have been driven by both pull and push factors. Pull factors refer to the relatively good economic growth prospects in the Philippines, and push factors include the accommodative monetary policies in advanced economies. After the Philippines received its first investment-grade sovereign credit rating in March 2013 from…

Analysis

Selective openness: The local market is beginning to look friendlier for foreign financial institutions
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While the Philippine banking sector has been fast liberalising, its openness to foreign investment has been inconsistent. Brief periods of reform have been followed by stretches of policy stagnation in terms of market access for global institutions. Though there is no overarching strategy in this regard, a number of laws and regulations have worked together to make the market effectively closed to new entrants and highly restricted to those already in. In that way, it is similar to other South-east…

Analysis

All the rest: Creating real growth will require reaching more of the population
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Inclusiveness is one of the main priorities of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). According to a survey published in 2012 by the central bank, eight out of 10 Filipino households have no bank account, and in early 2013 the Philippine National Statistical Coordination Board reported that the poverty rate stood almost unchanged from 2006, at 27.9%. The concern is that the lack of access to banking services among poor and rural communities is holding back a large percentage of the population. As…

Interview

OBG talks to Nestor Tan, President, Banco de Oro Unibank (BDO); Gilda Pico, President, Landbank of the Philippines; Fabian Dee, President, Metrobank; and Cezar Consing, President, Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI)
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Interview:Nestor Tan,Gilda Pico,Fabian Dee,Cezar Consing What opportunities are unlocked by the growing interest of banks to finance the middle markets? CEZAR CONSING: The last three decades have seen the decline of the Philippine middle market. The hollowing out of domestic manufacturing has been key to this downturn. Fortunately, we are seeing a reversal of this trend due to a combination of business process outsourcing (BPO) growth and manufacturing resurgence, creating…