BSP policies secure banks amid pandemic: bank official

During the virtual Security Bank economic forum, Security Bank Executive Vice President and Treasurer Raul Martin A. Pedro said BSP regulations targeted to bolster banks’ capital position and backed financial institutions from the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic. (File Photo: Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas/Facebook)

MANILA – Policies implemented by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BPS) to further strengthen the industry allowed banks to remain resilient amidst the pandemic, a Security Bank Corporation (Security Bank) official said on Thursday.

During the virtual Security Bank economic forum, Security Bank Executive Vice President and Treasurer Raul Martin A. Pedro said BSP regulations targeted to bolster banks’ capital position and backed financial institutions from the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

“When this pandemic came in all the Philippine banks are pretty much well prepared for events like this,” he said.

Pedro said the additional liquidity boost that BSP has provided allowed banks to absorb the impact of the crisis on their borrowers, specifically the small and medium businesses (SMEs).

He said that while Security Bank is now implementing stricter loan policies on highly affected industries to reduce exposure, “our mentality to it has not changed.”

“SME and consumer sector have been growing for us significantly over the past couple of years. And once the economy normalizes, we are quite certain that it is an area that we would want to be heavily involved with again,” he said.

Pedro said that since banks remain strong during this virus-induced crisis, the sector is among the drivers that will boost economic recovery.

“Given the strong capital position of banks, we are very much in a strong position to support the recovery as it comes,” he said.

Meanwhile, Pedro forecasts the peso to slightly weaken to the 49-level towards the year-end from the current 48-level against the US dollar in line with the expected recovery of the global economy.