Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said yesterday no bank has closed down its operations because of COVID-19 although selected branches of banks that are opened during the lockdown have restricted businesses.
As for the smaller banks, the BSP has no record yet of a rural bank shutting down specifically citing the pandemic as reason.
In a Monday Malacanang Palace virtual presser with Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, Diokno said however that because of competition, there were rural banks that have closed shop.
These rural banks have been prohibited from doing business and were passed on to the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. for take over and liquidation.
The capital adequacy ratio of the banks remains high, he added.
As of end-April, there are 447 rural banks compared to 449 in January while thrift banks numbered 48 from 50 at the beginning of the year.
The 46 big banks’ CAR as end-December 2019, on a consolidated basis remained unchanged at 16 percent and well-above the BSP’s regulatory threshold of 10 percent and international standard of eight percent. As of end-March, the total banking resources stood at P18.8 trillion, up eight percent year-on-year.