Bank deposits up 9.8% to P5.1T in 2010

MANILA, Philippiones - Total bank deposits grew 9.8 percent as the number of deposit accounts posted its highest growth since 1981 as more and more Filipinos are saving in the formal banking sector, the state-run Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) reported yesterday.

PDIC president Jose Nograles announced yesterday that total deposits reached P5.1 trillion last year from about P4.65 trillion in 2009 as the number of deposit accounts posted a double-digit growth of 15.1 percent to 39.7 million wherein 5.2 million new accounts were opened last year.

Nograles said the 15.1 percent year-on-year growth in deposit accounts was the highest since 1981 and marks the second time that the growth was at double digits since 1997.

He added that the increase was also faster than the 5.4 percent growth posted in 2009.

Data showed that savings deposits jumped 10.9 percent to P2.4 trillion accounting for 46.7 percent of the total bank deposits last year while time deposits went up by 6.7 percent to P1.7 trillion and cornered 34.8 percent of the total deposits. Checking accounts went up by 13.3 percent to P947 billion accounting for 18.5 percent of the total bank deposit accounts last year.

Individual depositors cornered the largest share of deposits with 56.9 percent or P2.9 trillion followed by private corporations with 30 percent or P1.5 trillion, and the National Government with 9.9 percent or P509 billion.

“This shows that more Filipinos are saving in the formal banking sector,” he stressed.

Universal and commercial banks accounted for 88 percent or P4.5 trillion of the total deposits followed by thrift banks which cornered 9.6 percent or P490.6 billion, and rural banks with 2.4 percent or P123.2 billion of the total bank deposits. Thrift banks posted the highest growth in deposits year-on-year with 13.8 percent followed by universal and commercial banks with 9.5 percent, and rural banks with 7.5 percent.

Of the total deposits last year, Nograles said peso accounts represented 78.6 percent or P4 trillion while foreign currency deposits accounted for the remaining 21.4 percent or P1.1 trillion.

The PDIC chief said total deposits increased despite the decline in the number of banks to 758 last year from 785 in 2009 while the number of branches to 7,374 from 7,093.