Auto loans jump 16.6% in Q1

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported over the weekend that the total auto loans (AL) of universal/commercial banks (U/KBs) and thrift banks (TBs) expanded in the first three months of the year.

According to the BSP, the ALs of the banking industry reached P55.3 billion as of end-March 2005, up by 16.6 percent from P47.7 billion in the same period last year.

The latest AL level also represents an increase of 10.8 percent from P49.9 billion in the last quarter of 2004.

The ratio of total ALs to total loan portfolio (TLP), exclusive of interbank loans (IBL) expanded to 3.2 percent in the first quarter from year ago’s 2.9 percent

TBs (inclusive of subsidiaries of U/KBs) still held the lion’s share of the total ALs of the banking system with 70.5 percent.

Of the TB’s total share, 61.5 percent came from financial institution-linked TBs.

The past due ALs to total AL ratio of U/KBs and TBs (bank proper and subsidiaries) continued to improve to 5.9 percent from six percent last quarter and 6.3 percent a year ago.

The ratio of past due ALs to total non-performing loans of combined U/KBs and TBs inched up to 1.3 percent from last quarter’s 1.1 percent and year ago’s one percent.

Past due ALs to TLP ratio, on the other hand, was maintained at 0.2 percent in the three comparative periods.