Asia Financial Services

With strong capitalisation and credit growth on the back of robust GDP figures and falling inflation, the Philippine banking sector now faces a year in which consolidation of gains and expansion into new demographics are clearly on the agenda. The country continues to be well served by a variety of lenders, with universal and commercial banks...

One of the oldest stock exchanges in Asia, the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) is delivering robust returns. Indeed, the PSE index (PSEi) ended 2017 on an all-time high – up 25.1% year-on-year (y-o-y) – and broke an intra-day record on the year’s last trading day, reaching 8640.04 points. These gains proved difficult to sustain in 2018, with...

With financial inclusion a high priority for both the government and retail banks, which are looking to the untapped population to increase their customer base, recent developments in financial technology (fintech) have been greeted with great interest. In particular, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the central bank, is increasingly...