Banks keep credit standards steady

Philippine banks largely kept their credit standards unchanged in the first quarter, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)'s latest senior bank loan officers' survey (SLOS).

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"Majority of the participating banks maintained their credit standards for loans to businesses and consumers based on the modal approach. Meanwhile, the diffusion index (DI) method indicated a net tightening of credit standards for business loans and households," the BSP said.

Using the modal approach, which captures the most common response among banks, the BSP reported that 81.8 percent of banks maintained their lending standards for enterprises, a slight dip from 83.3 percent a quarter ago.

Similarly, 86.8 percent of banks kept their household loan standards unchanged in the first quarter compared to 89.5 percent in the previous quarter.