As of July, the loan quality of the thrift banking industry continued to improve as the non-performing loans ratio dropped to 8.69 percent from 8.86 percent in June. The latest data showed that NPL ratio was also an improvement from 11.67 percent a year ago.

For rural and cooperative banks, the BSP said the industry’s NPL ratio as of June increased by 0.12 percentage point to 11.86 percent from previous quarter’s 11.74 percent. This was brought on by the 3.7 percent growth in NPLs outpacing the 2.7 percent expansion in total loan portfolio.

Across the three major geographical regions, rural and cooperative banks located in Mindanao continued to have better loan quality at 9.34 percent (down from 9.38 percent last quarter) compared to Luzon and Visayas which posted 12.20 percent (up from 12.05 percent) and 14.08 percent (up from 13.78 percent), respectively.

In the meantime the sector’s ratio of real and other properties owned or acquired or ROPOA to gross assets improved to 10.13 percent from last month’s 10.36 percent and year ago’s 11.53 percent. This developed as the 0.1 percent contraction in ROPOA from last month was complemented by the 2.2 percent rise in gross assets.

The central bank said the non-performing assets ratio of thrift banks likewise declined to 13.98 percent from 14.27 percent last month and from the 16.88 percent ratio posted a year ago. The 2.2 percent expansion in gross assets this month outpaced the 0.1 percent increase in NPAs.