Banks' bad loans ease in September

The share of soured loans to the banking sector's total loan book fell to 3.47 percent in September from a two-year high of 3.59 percent in August, ending three straight months of acceleration, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

- KEISHA TA-ASAN

Preliminary data released by the BSP showed that the non-performing loan (NPL) ratio of Philippine banks was the lowest in five months or since the 3.45 percent recorded in April.

However, the September figure was higher than the 3.40 percent recorded a year ago.

According to the central bank data, soured loans went up by 16.5 percent to P517.45 billion in September from P444.33 billion in the same month a year ago, while loan disbursements grew by 14.1 percent to P14.9 trillion from P13.06 trillion.

Likewise, the banking sector's past due loans rose by 15.1 percent to P632.87 billion from P549.93 billion, while restructured loans slipped by 4.1 percent to P294.53 billion in September from P307.24 billion in the same month last year.