The lending standards of Philippine banks to enterprises and households remain unchanged in the fourth quarter of 2017, according to a survey conducted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
In its Senior Bank Loan Officers’ Survey, the Bangko Sentral said most of the respondent banks kept their credit standards for loans to both enterprises and households during the quarter.
This is the 35th consecutive quarter since the second quarter of 2009 that the majority of respondent banks reported broadly unchanged credit standards.
Most or 88.9 percent of banks that responded to the survey indicated that credit standards for loans to enterprises remained unchanged during the fourth quarter using the modal approach.
In terms of borrower firm size, banks’ responses indicated a net easing of credit standards for loans to micro-enterprises while credit standards for top corporations, large middle-market enterprises and small and medium enterprises were unchanged.
The survey also showed that most respondent banks or 90.5 percent kept their overall credit standards unchanged for loans extended to households during the quarter based on the modal approach.
The Bangko Sentral also said most of the respondent banks or 73.7 percent indicated unchanged credit standards for commercial real estate loans in the fourth quarter of 2017.
“A number of banks, however, indicated increased demand for the type of loan on the back of increased investment in plant and equipment, improvement in borrower firms’ economic outlook, banks’ more attractive financing terms and lower interest rates,” the central bank said.
“Over the next quarter, although most of the respondent banks anticipate generally steady loan demand, a number of banks expect demand for commercial real estate loans to continue to increase,” it added.