Banks profitability tumbles

According to a 2014 Banking Supervision Annual Report released on Monday, the banking sector’s after-tax profit decreased by a significant 16.7 percent to P1.5 billion last year due to a low interest rates environment coupled with a high rise in non-performing loans.

This contrasted with a positive growth rate of 0.1 percent in 2013, with last year’s softer profits signalling a distress period for an industry operating under an environment characterised by tight liquidity, charges freeze and a flagging economy.