CTB: Resilience in hybrid banking

Going into its 51st year, the Chamber of Thrift Banks (CTB) in the Philippines held its national convention last July 15, 2025, to look back/assess its achievements and address the banking challenges in the coming years. The convention theme “Resilience in hybrid banking”, was deliberately chosen to highlight the ongoing transition from the traditional “brick and mortar” banking to the technology driven “digital banking”.

While thrift banks have always been the preferred banks for SMEs due to its provincial and non-urban locations, together with its personalized ambiance, the advent of more effective/efficient financial technology (FINTECH) systems made it imperative for thrift banks to gradually embrace digital banking. The strategic approach to bridge the digital gap done by most thrift banks, was/is to maintain its strength in traditional banking by digitizing the processes and systems, and providing digital banking in the payments/fund transfers.

Resilience can be defined in many ways, all of them related to toughness. For thrift banks, the most appropriate definition is the ability to cope with changes and challenges. In banking, the changes are in the financial environment and the challenges are in the fast-paced evolution of financial technologies/fintechs.

The main speaker in the CTB convention was BSP deputy governor Ms. Chuchi Fonacier who highlighted the thrift banks’ ?1.1 trillion assets, the ?777 billion in loans, the ?826 billion in deposits, and ?178 billion in capital. She also cited the 8% growth rate of thrift banks assets in 2024 which is faster than the Philippine GDP, and the BSP policies that nurtured this growth. Also, that the BSP is in step with the fintech/digitization initiatives of all banks and are aligning them with the financial stability objective/mandate of the BSP.

The succeeding speakers in the convention that lasted seven hours, were all big hitters in the fintech industry, and covered core banking system upgrading, enhanced payment/fund transfer systems, data analytics, digital lending, up to artificial intelligence automation and data governance. The speakers from all over Asia and the Philippines were all impressive that I commented to our CTB President Perreras that in the next few years many of the digital systems upgrade for banks will just be an “add to cart” and “plug and play”.

Motivational and management guru Francis Kong shared his views on leadership challenges in the fast changing financial technologies. The need for adaptability, focus, and bringing in generations Y and Z for success and continuity was elucidated. The last speaker was Dept. of Finance Undersecretary Velasquez who expounded on the Philippines economic performance in the last 16 years, and the relatively good prospects of a 6% to 7% GDP growth for the country up to 2028. That we should be doing better than most of our Asian peers in growing the economy, and graduate to a middle income developing country.

Almost all thrift banks in the Philippines are members of the CTB, and most are already on the road or bridged to digital banking. Some are further ahead than others, but almost all are embracing the “hybrid banking” proposition by integrating the financial technologies appropriate for their business model and customers/clientele.

As one of the trustees of the CTB, I share the optimism of the bright prospects/horizons for the thrift banking industry. After more than 50 years, the thrift banks have a hold and settled on its place/role, dimension and share in the financial industry. It will continue to be resilient to the fast-changing environment and financial technology. It will surely do more than its share in the economic growth of the country and in nation building.