Credit card receivables up 4.6% to P130.2 billion

MANILA, Philippines - More and more consumers are turning on to their credit cards instead of using cash to pay for goods or services, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed.

BSP data showed that credit card receivables of universal, commercial, and thrift banks went up by 4.6 percent to P130.2 billion from January to September this year from P124.4 billion a year ago.

Data showed that universal and commercial banks were aggressive in convincing credit card holders to purchase more through promotional gimmicks as their receivables grew by 8.7 percent to P129.73 billion as of end-September from P119.31 billion a year ago.

The BSP said universal and commercial banks accounted for 84.5 percent of the total credit card receivables during the period with P110 billion while credit card subsidiaries of universal and commercial banks cornered a 15.2-percent share with P19.7 billion.

On the other hand, thrift banks also booked P400 million in credit card receivables to a share of 0.3 percent.

During the period, the industry’s total loan portfolio expanded by 5.4 percent to P2.522 trillion in the first nine months of the year from P2.393 billion during the same period last year.

The ratio of total credit card receivables of the industry was barely unchanged at 5.2 percent from January to September this year.

On the quality of credit card receivables, the central bank said non-performing receivables increased to P16.64 billion in the first nine months of the year from P14.56 billion in the same period last year.

This resulted in a higher loan loss reserves amounting to P15.25 billion from January to September this year compared with P12.57 billion in the same period last year.