BSP expected to allow rural, thrift banks to do cross-selling
By Michelle V. RemoThe Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is issuing a regulation that will allow thrift and rural banks to engage in cross-selling of financial instruments.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is issuing a regulation that will allow thrift and rural banks to engage in cross-selling of financial instruments.
Thrift banks in the country registered higher profits in the first half as robust economic growth led to higher demand for consumer loans and other financial services.
THE BANGKO Sentral ng Pilipinas will require thrift banks to own at least 5 percent of insurance firms they will partner with for the purpose of cross selling financial products.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is preparing to issue two sets of guidelines allowing thrift banks to engage in the cross-selling of financial products, a move that is seen to aid efforts at making average Filipinos financially savvy.
The thrift banking industry said the outlook on auto, housing and other consumer loans remained rosy for 2013.
The Sterling Bank of Asia, the thrift banking arm of the Tiu family, grew its net profit in 2011 by 7 percent to P126.31 million on higher interest income on loans and bigger trading gains.
The country’s thrift banks are bracing for cutthroat competition brought about by the entry of more commercial banks into their turf, particularly in lending to consumers for their home and vehicle purchases.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. has urged thrift banks to lend more to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), stressing the crucial role of banks in helping achieve the country’s poverty reduction and economic development goals.
Thrift and cooperative banks managed to reduce their exposure to bad debts at the end of the first semester last year, thanks to their adherence to what regulators consider as prudent lending standards.
Ortigas-based Producers Savings Bank Corp. has become the first thrift bank accredited by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to accept deposits and investments from universal and commercial banks that need to comply with mandatory lending to the agriculture and agrarian (Agri-Agra) sectors.
The exposure of thrift banks to bad debts shrank, but that of rural and cooperative banks grew in the first quarter, as the entire banking industry extended more loans to individuals and enterprises.
