LAST MONTH saw the Malaysian-lender CIMB Bank formally launching its operations in the Philippines, more than a year after it received the central bank approval to establish banking operations in the country.

ECONOMISTS expect local financial markets to rebound this year following a challenging 2018 even as uncertainties both at home and abroad remain.

WITH THE DOWNTREND in inflation allowing room for the central bank to retain or cut key interest rates, analysts remain bullish on bank stocks this year as they expect banks’ to net higher earnings and at the same time, lower funding costs.

Weather conditions may be unfavorable, crops may fail.

WITH the agriculture sector being perceived as high-risk, finding a source of funding is a tall order for farmers, more so when they have little or no assets to pledge as collateral. This leads them to borrow money from informal lenders at predatory rates, which makes them susceptible to a cycle of poverty that would last generations.

RURAL BANKS began to sprout in the 1950s when the countryside lacked basic financial services, which prompted the government to set up measures to incentivize the establishment of such lenders by way of lower interest and other perks. Prior to this, the main sources of credit were moneylenders in the informal sector that charged very high interest rates. Convenient and secured payment facilities in many rural communities hardly existed.

THE Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) has been designated as the government’s infrastructure financing bank. Since then, it saw a double-digit expansion in its loan portfolio, with outstanding credit standing at P250.59 billion as of the first half this year. Of that amount, around 33% (P82.88 billion) was lent to the infrastructure and logistics sector.

THE weaker-than-expected economic growth, coupled with persisting domestic inflation concerns and geopolitical tensions continue to send local financial markets on a spin in the July-September period, with local and foreign headwinds providing a mixed outlook on financial markets moving forward.

WITH THE LOCAL stock market showing signs of recovery, investors may consider bank stocks as banks gradually reprice their loan portfolios following the successive interest rate hikes from the central bank.

PICTURE this: a family emergency crops up, and with it comes the urgent need for a few thousand pesos to save the day. Who do you run to?

THINKING of saving the monetary gifts her son gets — and will receive in the future — Lampell, 37, decided to open an account for her then six-month-old child, Nathan.

IN its bid to boost financial inclusion, the central bank has allowed banks to set up dressed-down branches, which allow banks to design offices that would cater to low-income households as part of efforts to bring more Filipinos onto the formal banking system.