IN LATE AUGUST, the state-owned United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) announced that it signed a partnership with government-run Home Development Mutual Fund or Pag-IBIG Fund to lend its digital platform in disbursing loans and benefits to about 14 million members.

LOCAL financial markets performed well for the most part in the third quarter, buoyed by positive developments at home amid a slew of uncertainties abroad.

AMID strong earnings results for banks and market expectations on lower borrowing costs, analysts are once again warming up to bank stocks.

IT HAS BEEN MORE THAN A DECADE since the last global financial crisis. The 2008 crisis had started in the US subprime mortgage market, which crept into financial markets and led failing banks to either be rescued by governments or be closed down. However, the Philippine banking system was relatively insulated with bank failures contained within the rural banking sector whose small assets relative to the total sector’s resources posed little to no systemic risk.

“Simple lang. Maasahan”

“THE MORE information [and] the more open the information is, then the more protection there is for both the borrower and the lender…”

By Marissa Mae M. Ramos Researcher ECONOMISTS expect financial markets in the second half to bounce back from the challenging first half amid anticipations of further...

ANALYSTS remain selective on bank stocks amid mixed earnings performance and the differing impacts of loosening monetary policy and ongoing trade tensions on their bottom lines.

With the emergence of the Internet in the 1990s and the improvement in broadband in the early 2000s, online banking has started becoming the norm.

UP UNTIL May 1994, no foreign bank was permitted to enter the country apart from four foreign lenders that were already operating at that time. In February 1995, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), under Republic Act (RA) No. 7721, approved the application of 10 out of 22 foreign banks that had expressed interest. Under RA 7721, only when one of the 10 banks pulls out could another offshore lender enter the Philippine financial system.

THE FURTHER EASING in domestic inflation buoyed investor sentiment for much of the first quarter this year even as upside risks — mostly from the external front — remain.

ANALYSTS are painting a rosy picture for banking stocks following the sector’s mixed performance in the first quarter and the central bank’s decision to slash reserve requirements, but advise investors to remain selective on which ones to include in their respective portfolios.