THE Chamber of Thrift Banks (CTB) expects the continued growth in the thrift banking sector’s total assets this year.
“The thrift bank sector has grown 25 percent from last year. In terms of assets, we’re now at P1.4 trillion, and we expect this to continue until 2026 despite the current situation. We’re expecting the same growth,” CTB Convention Committee chairman Manuel Santiago Jr. said on the sidelines of the CTB 2026 Convention in Makati City Wednesday, July 15, 2026.
Last year, the thrift banking sector’s core lending also went up by 26 percent to P977.32 billion, reflecting sustained credit support for micro, small and medium enterprises, housing finance, and consumer borrowers nationwide.
Santiago said financial inclusion will help drive growth.
“The basic driver here is financial inclusion. There’s a lot of new services that are being offered, and I think this will drive... particularly the need for credit, and the thrift banks basically provide a lot of these,” he said.
Santiago is also confident that the technological change will provide opportunities for the industry.
“For more than five decades, thrift banks have weathered economic crises, financial disruptions, and changing customer expectations. Today’s challenge is not choosing between physical branches and digital banking. It is creating a seamless customer experience by integrating traditional banking, digital channels, and artificial intelligence,” he said.
He added artificial intelligence offers opportunities to automate routine work, improve compliance and risk management, and free bank personnel to focus on serving customers more effectively.
Salary loan repayment
Santiago, meanwhile, said the CTB supports the central bank’s recent move to extend the maximum repayment period for salary-based consumption loans to seven years from the current three years.
However, he said the extension should not cover all kinds of salary loans.
“The main concern that is being worked on right now is that we want to avoid overburdening the borrowers,” Santiago said.
He said loans that should qualify for the extended payment scheme should be those for emergency situations, home repairs, purchase of cars and car repairs.
“So, I think one of the key controls that we’re looking at is being able to put specific purposes for those that will qualify for six and seven years,” Santiago said.“We need to balance the purpose of where the six and seven-year loans are going to be applied.” / PNA
