Philippine banks’ bad loan ratio further deteriorated to 3.44 percent as of end-May, marking a nine-month high as borrowers struggled to settle loans due to elevated borrowing and business costs. The latest Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) data showed that the banking industry’s gross...
President Marcos reappointed veteran bankers Walter C. Wassmer and Jose L. Querubin to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ policymaking Monetary Board, securing their roles through July 2032. The reappointments extend the tenure of both officials to full six-year terms. Wassmer and Querubin were...
The central bank laid out strict reporting guidelines for lenders seeking capital relief on government security valuation losses, mapping out the transitional reporting schedule that begins this month. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) issued Memorandum No. M-2026-032 to outline procedures for...
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is proposing a new risk-based supervisory framework to strengthen consumer protection and enhance oversight of local financial institutions. The proposal, which aims to formalize the Financial Consumer Protection Risk-and-Impact Supervisory Model (FCPRISM),...
Japanese financial giant MUFG Bank Ltd. expects the Philippine peso to gradually regain footing against the United States (US) dollar on the back of lower oil prices, improving government spending, and additional interest rate hikes by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). MUFG Global Markets...
Following the successful technical testing of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC), which demonstrated the feasibility of 24/7 interbank fund transfers, the BSP is planning to formulate a roadmap to further explore and refine the technology’s...
A decline in reserve assets and the national government’s (NG) debt servicing amid elevated borrowing costs widened the Philippines’ net external liability position to $54.9 billion in the first quarter of 2026. With the general government’s (GG) continued status as a net debtor, the...
Consumer prices likely moderated in June on the back of lower food and fuel costs, though sticky underlying pressures are poised to keep the central bank on a hawkish path. Headline inflation may have cooled to as low as six percent last month, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said in a...
Companies scaled back borrowing from Philippine banks’ foreign currency funds in the first quarter, pulling total loans down to $15.44 billion as high global interest rates made dollar debt increasingly expensive. According to the latest data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP),...
British banking giant HSBC expects the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to raise interest rates by another 75 basis points (bps) following its recent hikes as inflation is projected to significantly overshoot the target ceiling this year, while economic growth remains dampened. “Higher oil...
As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more deeply embedded in financial operations, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has urged banks and nonbanks to establish tailored governance frameworks to protect the financial system from data privacy breaches, algorithmic bias, and operational risks....
Property costs accelerated in the first quarter of 2026, signaling a broader recovery in the residential market after successive declines, although tighter lending standards continued to dampen borrowers’ appetite for property purchases. Property inflation quickened in the first quarter,...
