Total bank deposits totaled P5.1T last year

The total bank deposits last year grew by almost a tenth as the number of deposit accounts spiked to its highest level since 1981, the state-run Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) said Monday. PDIC president Jose Nograles said in a statement that the total deposits in the Philippine banking system rose to P5.1 trillion last year, a 9.7-percent increase from 2009's P4.65 trillion. Deposit accounts in 2010 grew 15 percent year-on-year to 5.2 million, marking the highest volume of new accounts since 1981, Nograles said. The total number of deposit accounts stood at 39.7 million as of end-December 2010, he added. Savings deposits, which accounted for 47 percent of the total bank deposits, rose 11 percent to P2.4 trillion last year. Accounting for 35 percent of the total bank deposits, time deposits increased 6.7 percent to P1.7 trillion in the previous year. Checking accounts, which contributed 18 percent to the overall deposits in banks, grew 13 percent to P947 billion in 2010. Individual depositors cornered the largest share of deposits with P2.9 trillion, followed by private corporations (P1.5 trillion) and the national government (P509 billion). "This shows that more Filipinos are saving in the formal banking sector," Nograles said. Of the total bank deposits, a total of P4.5 trillion are placed in universal and commercial banks, P490.6 billion in thrift banks, and P123.2 billion in rural banks. Year-on-year, thrift banks posted the highest growth rate in deposits with 13.8 percent, followed by universal and commercial banks (9.5 percent) and rural banks (7.5 percent). Enhanced access to banks Nograles said peso accounts represented 78.6 percent, or P4 trillion, of the total bank deposits, while foreign currency deposits accounted for the remaining 21.4 percent, or P1.1 trillion. He pointed out that the total deposits increased despite the decline in the number of banks to 758 last year from 785 in 2009. "The continued strengthening of the banking sector through mergers, consolidation, and strategic market expansion... gave depositors enhanced access to banks," according to Nograles. Nograles also said the rising presence of banks in communities has encouraged the public — particularly small savers — to park their money in banks. "These positive upswings are expected to continue to drive the banking sector forward at the start of the new decade," he said. The PDIC has insured a total of P870.8 billion in deposits that cover 38.58 million accounts or 97.1 percent of the total number of deposit accounts. — JE, GMA News