MANILA, Philippines — Bank deposits went up by 5.7 percent to P13.1 trillion from January to September 2019 compared to a year-ago level of P12.39 trillion, according to Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC).
The state deposit insurer said domestic debt liabilities continued to provide a stable funding base for banks operations, accounting for about 74 percent of the banking industry’s total assets.
Commercial or big banks cornered 91.9 percent or the total deposits, followed by thrift or mid-sized banks with 6.7 percent and rural or small banks with a share of 1.4 percent.
PDIC said the country’s top five banks in terms of assets accounted for nearly 58 percent or P7.58 trillion of the total deposits, while the rest of the banks accounted for 42.1 percent or P5.51 trillion.
PDIC said “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 domestic deposit liabilities of big banks went up by seven percent while that of small banks increased by 6.2 percent.
On the other hand, PDIC said the domestic deposit liabilities of mid-sized banks declined by 9.2 percent due to the merger of Yuchengco-led Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. and wholly-owned subsidiary RCBC Savings Bank.
PDIC reported the number of deposit accounts booked a double-digit growth of 15.1 percent to 70.5 million as of end-September last year from 61.2 million as of end-September 2018.
Deposits of rural banks posted the highest annual growth at 31.5 percent followed by commercial banks at 15.3 percent. Deposit accounts of thrift banks contracted by 4.8 percent.
Savings deposits cornered 45.4 percent or P5.9 trillion, followed by time deposits with a share or 28.5 percent or P3.7 trillion, negotiable order of withdrawal (NOW) accounts with 24.4 percent or P3.2 trillion and long term negotiable certificates of deposits with 1.7 percent or P223.9 billion.
Individual depositors accounted for 47 percent or P6.19 trillion, followed by private corporations with 32 percent or P4.19 trillion, and the government with 13.7 percent or P1.8 trillion.
Trust departments, banks, and non-residents accounted for the balance of 6.9 percent.