BSP to conduct maiden banking sector outlook survey

MANILA, Philippines — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on Wednesday announced it will start conducting “Banking Sector Outlook Surveys” to gather insights from leaders in the banking community on their growth outlook and risk assessments, among others.

In a statement, the BSP said the policymaking Monetary Board approved the conduct of the poll, which also seeks to gather the sentiments of bank leaders on their business performance strategies, as well as their insights on regulation and supervision.

The survey is part of the surveillance toolkit of the BSP to promote the sustained resilience of the banking system. The initial rollout of the survey will start in June 2018.

“The BSOS will capture forward-looking information consistent with BSP’s proactive approach to banking supervision. The survey will also inform additional perspectives on the evolution of banks’ business models that can help enhance prudential regulations,” the central bank said.

“The initial run of the BSOS will cover all universal/commercial, including foreign banks, and thrift banks as well as Top 20 rural banks in terms of total loan portfolio... The BSP intends to expand the coverage of the survey to include all banks and to conduct the same on a semi-annual basis in the succeeding years,” it added.

In a separate statement, the BSP said a quarterly review of the Philippine financial market highlighted the country’s strong economic performance on several fronts driven primarily by local sources of growth.

But the central bank cautioned on “various risks” that could dampen growth momentum, adding that authorities should remain vigilant in the surveillance of unfolding market developments.

“The availability of additional market liquidity to support the government’s infrastructure development program and the uptrend in market prices (global interest rates and benchmark currencies) were primarily considered,” the BSP said of the review, which was conducted by inter-agency Financial Stability Coordination Council.

“Global issues flagged by third-party institutions as well as local challenges were reviewed as to their likelihood and impact,” it also said.