The Top Distressed Philippine Banks as of March 31, 2013

Editor's Note:  This blog was inspired by the spectacular failure of Banco Filipino Savings and Mortgage Bank for the second time in its 38 years of existence.  This blog post and other blog posts like it attempt to describe why the bank failed.  But it also attempts to assess what other Philippine Banks have the potential to fail in the not too distant future. To see blog posts on other banks, click on the Banco Filipino Graphic at the top of the blog or click on the blog archive on the right hand column, or simply go to bancofilipinofailure.blogspot.com.


Editor's Note: The Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) advised consumers to wisely choose the banks where they will deposit their money. The trouble is, most depositors don't and can't read financial statements before they open a bank account. The regulators, whose job is to safeguard the public's money, have not done a good job recently.  In the past ten years, two commercial banks, twenty-one thrift banks, and a staggering 187 rural banks have collapsed, often quite suddenly and without warning:  Regulators do have a problem bank list that they do not divulge to the public, for fear of sparking another bank run. So who can the public turn to, to advise them where to put their money? No one, except the banks themselves who will always promote their self-interests. This analysis is an attempt to fill in that knowledge gap, by screening out the weaker banks that seem ready to implode at any given moment.

Editor's Note: The ratio of Distressed Assets to Total Capital Cushion is a variant of the famous Texas Ratio, which was widely used by US financial regulators to predict bank failure during the US Savings and Loan Crisis in the 1980s and early 1990s. The basic premise is that a bank with Distressed Assets greater than its Capital Cushion is in danger of insolvency, because a significant drop in the value of  the Distressed Assets will eat into a significant amount of the bank's capital.  A bank that has a Distressed Ratio greater than 100% is flagged as borderline insolvent (highlighted in yellow).  For a more detailed discussion of this ratio, please visit a previous blog post: The Texas Ratio of Select Philippine Banks

This is a list of the top distressed Universal and Commercial (U/KB) as well as Thrift Banks in the Philippines as of March 31, 2013.  It updates the four previous blog posts "The Top Distressed Philippine Banks as of December 31, 2012",  "The Top Distressed Philippine Banks as of September 30, 2012", "The Top Distressed Philippine Banks as of June 30, 2012" and "The Top Distressed Philippine Banks as of March 31, 2012".

It should be noted that three banks that had no Published Statement of Condition as of March 31, 2013 were classified as distressed as of December 31, 2012:

1. The Real Bank, which topped the list of distressed banks with a distressed ratio of 1110.52% as of December 31, 2012, had no Published Statement of Condition as of March 31, 2013.
2. Inter-Asia Development Bank, which had a distressed ratio of 790.16% as of December 31, 2012, the second highest distressed ratio among Philippine Thrift Banks, has no Published Statement of Condition as of March 31, 2013. Inter-Asia Development Bank also had the distinction of having negative Stockholder's Equity of Php 16.306 million as of December 31, 2012.
3. Legazpi Savings Bank Inc. also had no Published Statement of Condition as of March 31, 2012.  As of December 31, 2012, it had a distressed ratio of 255.52%.  It is now part of Robinsons Bank Corporation.

To see where your bank stands relative to these banks, please check the following previous blog posts: "Philippine U/KBs stagnate in the first quarter of 2013" and "Philippine Thrift Banks Improve in the 1st Quarter of 2013"

Top Distressed Philippine Banks
By Total Distressed Assets/ Total Capital Cushion
March 31, 2013
In Php
	March 31, 2013
Bank	Type of Bank	Total Distressed Assets (In PHP)	Total Capital Cushion (In PHP)	Distressed Assets/ Total Capital Cushion (In %)
Bank of China Limited - Manila Branch	U/KB	6,226,566,132.27	685,633,584.43	908.15%
Village SLA, Inc.	Thrift Bank	496,377,535.75	72,569,009.96	684.01%
Comsavings Bank	Thrift Bank	2,112,944,286.62	350,256,389.87	603.26%
United Coconut Planters Bank	U/KB	63,212,402,369.73	11,948,563,753.86	529.04%
Iloilo City Development Bank	Thrift Bank	319,108,798.97	74,460,161.05	428.56%
The Palawan Bank Inc.	Thrift Bank	80,187,590.43	26,105,838.96	307.16%
Citibank N.A.	U/KB	38,981,191,355.76	12,803,154,229.50	304.47%
Planters Development Bank	Thrift Bank	11,558,280,974.87	4,492,399,583.23	257.29%
China Bank Savings	Thrift Bank	1,992,008,426.44	924,982,941.27	215.36%
Bataan Development Bank	Thrift Bank	169,926,802.45	79,408,150.74	213.99%
Standard Chartered Bank	U/KB	5,808,076,301.57	2,828,803,541.61	205.32%
University Savings Bank	Thrift Bank	426,379,745.66	238,815,498.62	178.54%
Bank of Commerce	U/KB	33,113,884,699.17	19,097,682,135.51	173.39%
Farmers Savings & Loan Bank	Thrift Bank	206,459,550.90	121,460,323.18	169.98%
Equicom SB	Thrift Bank	849,956,397.71	524,113,918.41	162.17%
RCBC Savings Bank	Thrift Bank	12,931,004,204.02	8,458,793,246.14	152.87%
Business & Consumers Bank	Thrift Bank	125,950,251.62	83,158,250.15	151.46%
Opportunity Kauswagan Bank, Inc.	Thrift Bank	148,003,463.85	100,422,184.04	147.38%
Malayan Bank Savings & Mortgage Bank	Thrift Bank	1,631,520,959.35	1,197,907,246.98	136.20%
Enterprise Bank Inc.	Thrift Bank	308,372,421.55	226,893,033.22	135.91%
Hiyas Savings & Loan Bank	Thrift Bank	232,293,909.14	172,039,936.56	135.02%
Luzon Development Bank	Thrift Bank	625,433,831.89	505,564,924.77	123.71%
Philippine National Bank	U/KB	101,650,751,378.64	83,561,759,995.75	121.65%
Philippine Veterans Bank	U/KB	8,509,862,413.39	7,002,089,593.69	121.53%
Silangan Savings and Loan Bank, Inc.	Thrift Bank	60,573,617.94	51,238,430.87	118.22%
Microfinance Maximum SB (Maxbank)	Thrift Bank	71,037,262.18	63,374,791.71	112.09%
Security Bank Savings Corporation	Thrift Bank	1,959,451,355.89	1,774,788,044.47	110.40%
Philippine Bank of Communications	U/KB	5,127,180,667.39	4,843,878,337.23	105.85%
HongKong & Shanghai Banking Corporation	U/KB	5,236,434,312.10	5,155,376,110.01	101.57%
Philippine Resources Savings Banking Corporation	Thrift Bank	1,518,138,930.73	1,504,814,681.31	100.89%
Inter-Asia Development Bank*	Thrift Bank	NA	NA	NA
Legazpi Savings Bank Inc.*	Thrift Bank	NA	NA	NA
The Real Bank (A Thrift Bank) Inc.*	Thrift Bank	NA	NA	NA
Grand Total		305,689,759,947.98	168,970,507,867.10	180.91%

Source: www.bsp.gov.ph

Disclaimer:

This list only serves as a screening guide.  It is not a definitive guide and must be taken in the context of other factors.  The figures are based on the individual banks' statement of condition as of March 31, 2013 as published in the BSP website (www.bsp.gov.ph). For this analysis, no attempt was made to go through the audited financial statements of each bank. Readers are suggested to make their own investigations and verify the figures presented. Both BSP and PDIC have their own problem bank screening systems that are much more sophisticated in scope and design, given that they have more access to information over the banks they regulate.