Bank deposits hit record P10.6 trillion end of March

Philippine peso bills (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO)

MANILA — The total deposit liabilities of the banking system further rose to a record P10.621 trillion at the end of the first quarter, the latest data of the state-run Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) showed.

The end-of-March deposits across commercial, thrift and rural banks jumped 13.1 percent from P9.395 trillion a year ago as well as increased 1.2 percent from P10.495 trillion a quarter ago.

“Year-on-year, all bank types registered positive growth. Commercial banks registered the fastest expansion in domestic deposits at 13.3 percent, followed by thrift banks at 11 percent, and rural banks at 9.3 percent,” the PDIC said in a report.

End-of-March deposits in commercial banks reached P9.564 trillion or 90.1 percent of the total; in thrift banks, P900.1 billion (8.5 percent of total); and rural banks, P156.5 billion (1.5 percent).

Also, “the total domestic deposit accounts increased by 6.2 percent from the 51.9 million accounts as of end-March 2016 to 55.1 million as of end-March 2017,” the PDIC said..

Deposit accounts in rural banks rose 10.9 percent year-on-year to 7.2 million; in commercial banks, up 6.1 percent to 41.4 million; and thrift banks, up 2.1 percent to 6.5 million.

The PDIC said “the country’s five largest banks in terms of assets accounted for more than half of the total domestic deposit amount and accounts in the Philippine banking system, aggregating P6.038 trillion and 30.8 million, respectively.”

As of the end of 2016, the five biggest banks in terms of assets were BDO Unibank Inc., Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., Bank of the Philippine Islands, Land Bank of the Philippines, and Philippine National Bank.

According to the PDIC, “savings and time deposits were the main sources of bank funds, which jointly accounted for 76.2 percent of the total domestic deposits as of the end of March.”

“Nearly half of the domestic deposits, equivalent to P5.2 trillion, were savings deposits. Time deposits reached P2.9 trillion, accounting for 27.2 percent of the total domestic deposits,” it added.

In terms of depositors, “individuals, private corporations and government were the largest groups of domestic depositors in the Philippine banking system” as “their aggregate domestic deposits totalled P10 trillion or 94.2 percent of the total domestic deposits,” the PDIC said.

“The fastest growth in domestic deposit amount was posted by banks at a rate of 39.5 percent, followed by trust departments at 35.8 percent, then individual, government and private corporations at 15.4 percent, 8.8 percent and 8.1 percent, respectively,” according to the PDIC.

By type of currency, the PDIC said “peso accounts comprised 82.4 percent of the total domestic deposits, reaching P8.7 trillion as of end-March, 12.2-percent higher than its level [last year].”

“Meanwhile, foreign currency deposits, which comprised 17.6 percent of total domestic deposits, grew by 17.3 percent to reach P1.9 trillion.  SFM