THE Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP), the lead organization of universal and commercial banks in the country, yesterday told its members to continue taking “extraordinary steps to continue to serve banking customers.”
“As we move into week 3 of the ECQ (enhanced community quarantine), the impact of the crisis on the economy, including our corporate and consumer borrowers, is becoming more apparent,” said Cezar Consing of the Bank of the Philippine Islands and current BAP president.
BAP is asking its member banks to maintain reasonable lending rates, “with the objective of trying to keep such rates as close as possible to pre-ECQ levels.”
Banks are also told to keep digital channels open and maintain a level of branch presence that allows for the execution of transactions that cannot be performed digitally.
Banks should also ensure availability of cash in their open branches and the majority of ATMs.
“The Bangko Sentral has reduced both the policy rate and reserve requirements, and has taken steps to ease the regulatory burden borne by banks. The national government, in turn, has passed the Bayanihan Act, which gives the executive branch extraordinary powers to address the current crisis. In turn, we are asking our banks to contribute to stable and liquid financial markets,” Consing said.
When the ECQ was announced last week, BSP enabled continued access to banking institutions, and advocated that banks extend the greatest possible help they can to serve “not just our economy, but also the Filipino people.”
It has also reduced the reserve requirement ratio of big banks by 200 basis points and policy rate by 50 basis points.
BAP’s membership consists of 45 member banks–21 of which are local banks and 24 are foreign bank branches.
