Bank deposits in PH exceeded P13T in Sept

The banking system’s total deposits breached the P13-trillion mark in September as growth posted by commercial and rural banks offset the decline in deposits among thrift banks.

In its latest report, state-run Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) said total deposit liabilities across commercial, thrift and rural banks rose to a record-high of P13.1 trillion at end-September from P12.4 trillion a year ago and P12.8 trillion a quarter ago.

With 5.7-percent year-on-year and 2-percent quarter-on-quarter increases, the PDIC said “domestic deposit liabilities, representing 74.1 percent of industry assets as of end-September 2019, provided a stable funding base for bank operations.”

But the PDIC noted of slowing year-on-year increase in deposits compared to the 9.6-percent climb in September last year and 15.3-percent jump in September 2017.

“The continuing slowdown in year-on-year growth of deposit amount largely reflects the strong demand for high-interest deposit substitutes, such as government securities,” the PDIC explained.

At the end of the third quarter, commercial bank deposits amounted P12 trillion, up 7 percent year-on-year and accounted for 91.9 percent of the total.

Deposit liabilities of rural banks grew 6.2 percent year-on-year to P184.1 billion, accounting for 1.4 percent of total. “The deposit amount in rural banks was generally unaffected by the shifting demand as its domestic deposit amount grew faster than last year’s 5.1 percent,” the PDIC said.

However, thrift bank deposits declined 9.2 percent year-on-year to P881.3 billion, equivalent to 6.7 percent of total domestic deposit liabilities, which the PDIC said was “by and large caused by the merger of one thrift bank with its parent commercial bank.”

To recall, Yuchengco-led Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. merged with RCBC Savings Bank last July.

As for the number of total domestic deposit accounts, a faster growth of 15.1 percent was posted during the third quarter compared to 8.3 percent a year ago and 13.8 percent a quarter ago.

Total deposits accounts reached 70.5 million as of September, up from a year-ago’s 61.2 million and a quarter ago’s 67.8 million.

“Rural banks posted the highest annual growth in deposit accounts at 31.5 percent, followed by commercial banks at 15.3 percent, while that of thrift banks contracted by 4.8 percent,” according to PDIC.