MANILA, Philippines - The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported over the weekend that the soured loans of universal and commercial banks recorded a double-digit decline of 10.9 percent as of end-April, resulting in a lower non-performing loans (NPL) ratio for the industry.
Data released by the BSP showed that the NPLs of universal and commercial banks reached P74.34 billion as of end-April this year or P9.1 billion lower than the P83.44 billion booked as of end-April last year.
This translated to a lower NPL ratio of 2.30 percent in end-April compared to a year-ago ratio of 2.95 percent.
The BSP reported that the industry’s total loan portfolio went up by 14.3 percent to P3.234 trillion from P2.83 trillion.
The NPL ratio last April was also better that the 2.36 percent recorded in March. The month-on-month increase in the NPL ratio came about due to the 2.34-percent rise in the industry’s total loan portfolio from P3.16 trillion in March.
Data showed that the restructured loans of universal and commercial banks fell 17.6 percent to P34.77 billion in end-April from P42.21 billion in end-April last year and was also 3.1 percent lower compared to the end-March level of P35.87 billion.
This resulted in a lower restructured loans to total loan portfolio ratio of 1.06 percent from a year-ago ratio of 1.48 percent and from March’s 1.12 percent due to the reduction in gross restructured loans accompanied by expansion of loan portfolio.
Real and other properties acquired (ROPA), gross to gross assets slightly went up to 1.64 percent from last month’s 1.68 percent but got better from a year ago’s 1.98 percent ratio.
The non-performing assets to gross assets ratio declined to 2.77 percent from last month’s 2.83 percent but improved from year ago’s 3.35 percent ratio as decline in gross assets outpaced that of non-performing assets.
The non performing loan coverage ratio strengthened to 125.73 percent from last month’s 124.94 percent and from year ago’s 121.06 percent ratio.
“The industry’s provisioning against potential credit losses remained adequate,” the BSP said. - By Lawrence Agcaoili
