BPI Family projects 15% loan growth

MANILA, Philippines - The Bank of the Philippine Islands Family Savings Bank (BPI Family Savings) is forecasting a loan portfolio growth of over 15 percent for the whole of 2013.

In the first semester of the year, loans grew by nearly 16 percent.

BPI Family Savings president Jose Teodoro K. Limcaoco said that mortgage loans will lead consumer lending in the second semester of 2013, and well into 2014.

“Mortgage loan will be strong as there are a lot of projects, which started two and half to three years ago, that will be finished this year and the next,” Limcaoco said.

Over the two to three-year period, buyers have been paying the developers roughly 20-percent of the project cost.

He explained that completed projects means that the buyers have to pay the remaining 80-percent balance either in cash, or through partner banks.

“That is when the banks releases the loan,” the bank chief executive said, adding that that will continue in the next few years.

Limcaoco was not concerned about the type of buyers as majority are first-time buyers or end-users, meaning these buyers are determined to get hold of the units they purchased.

Mortgage loans account for more than half of BPI Family Savings’ loan portfolio.

Meanwhile, the thrift bank of the Ayala Group failed to equal if not surpass the growth sales of the automobile industry in the first six months of 2013. It grew by a little over 20 percent.

“We did not see our releases grow by over 20 percent,” Limcaoco said.

The first reason for the conservative growth was that the bank did not ease up on its lending standards. It did not resort to risky payment promos or gimmicks.

However, the bank chief executive admitted that they were not able to join the shuttle bandwagon.

There has been a noticeable increase in the sale of vehicles that are popular units for the shuttle services or the UV Express point-to-point shuttle service, which is a popular alternative to jeepneys, buses, taxicabs or the train services.

In terms of auto sales, BPI Family Savings concentrated to individual or personal acquisitions. Sales of automobiles for commercial use are classified as a business sale not a personal or consumer loan.

Limcaoco however admitted that the bank is presently studying and conducting limited loans. “If we entered that market earlier, our auto sales may have surpassed 15 percent.”

The shuttle service is unique. An individual owns the vehicle, but the franchise is held by another individual.