Auto loans up 12% to P65.2B in Apr-June

Bank loans for the acquisition of automobiles went up by 12 percent to P65.2 billion in the second quarter as car sales continued to pick up all through the first half of the year.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the latest figure was 4.6 percent higher than the P62.3 billion automobile loans recorded in the previous quarter, and translated into a 4.6 percent expansion from the previous three months.

Over the same period last year, the BSP said total auto loans amounted to P58.1 billion, indicating an ever-increasing appetite in auto financing.

The BSP said that at this level, total auto-loans accounted for 3.6 percent of the total loan portfolio (TLP), exclusive of interbank loans (IBL). This was higher than last quarter’s 3.5 percent and year ago’s 3.2 percent ratio.

The increase in total auto-loans, however, was also accompanied by a corresponding increase in past-due auto-loans, which went up to five percent in the second quarter from 4.7 percent in the first quarter.

Total past-due auto-loans amounted to P3.3 billion from the base figure of P2.9 billion. Nonetheless, the second quarter’s ratio was still a slight improvement from year ago’s 5.1 percent ratio.

On the other hand, the BSP said the ratio of past due auto-loans to the total loan portfolio of banks was contained at 0.2 percent in the three comparative periods.

The second quarter past due auto-loans, however, represented 1.8 percent of the reported non-performing loans (NPL) of universal/commercial banks and thrift banks, higher than the previous quarter’s 1.5 percent and year ago’s 1.4 percent ratio.

Thrift banks, through their consumer finance window, kept their lead over universal/commercial banks in the automobile sector. They accounted for 64.9 percent of the total auto-loans, while the remaining balance was held by universal/commercial banks.

Car manufacturers earlier reported that vehicle sales have kept rising and in July alone, total sales reached 8,601 units and brought total car sales from January to July to an estimated 54,837 units.

Toyota Motors Phils. was charted as the top-seller in terms of overall sales, accounting for 39.7 percent of the market in July. It was followed by Honda Phils. with 14.5 percent of the market and Mitsubishi Motors Phils. with an 11.1-percent share.