P/$ rate closes at P54.48 to $1.
The peso rate closed lower at P54.48 to the US dollar yesterday at the Philippine Dealing System of the Bankers Association of the Philippines from P54.195 last Wednesday. The weighted average rate depreciated to P54.393 from P54.189. Total volume amounted to $293.1 million. Banks reduce bad loan...

Firefighters passing boot to help MDA.
Byline: CITY BEAT/SPRINGFIELD By Serena Markstrom The Register-Guard SPRINGFIELD - Get your cash ready and cruise down to Pioneer Parkway and Q Street until 6:30 p.m. today, Springfield firefighters urge. The annual "Fill the Boot" fundraiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association continues today. ...

Throw a punch! How marketing can fight back against aggressive credit union rivals. Banks vs Credit Unions.
Remember when your mother used to say "If you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all"? Well, it appears most bankers have been pretty good about taking mom's advice and applying it to marketing philosophies. But apparently some competition has no qualms about trouncing banks...

Bangko Sentral, RCBC dismiss text rumors.
Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) president and chief operating officer Francisco S. Magsajo yesterday denied reports that some of its branches are experiencing unusual withdrawals. The bank official issued the statement in reaction to rumors being circulated via text messaging that RCBC is having financial problems due...

Savings banks urged to extend personal computer loans.
A lawmaker has urged the countrys savings, thrift and rural banks as well as consumer lending investors to extend loans to individuals and small shops for the acquisition of personal computers in order to lend the countrys information technology (IT) sector a big push. The single biggest...

BORROWING SPREE BOOSTS INDIAN HIGH-END PURCHASES.
A sharp rise in Indian consumer lending should open the door for double- digit gains in high-end consumption in the upcoming year. Big winners will be the residential real estate sector and producers of major household appliances. The value of retail loans has grown over 27 percent...

FINANCING TO BOOST CHINA'S HIGH-END SALES.
Slowly but surely, China is making strides toward financial maturity by establishing a framework for consumer lending by non-bank institutions. The high-end sector that will most immediately benefit from the new financing options are major automakers. Their lending branches have the high level of liquidity and profitability...

Comm'l banking loans up slightly in October.
Lending activities of commercial banking industry inched up by only 0.8 percent of the month of October to P1.43 trillion, bringing the average growth to 3.57 percent for the first 10 months of the year. Official documents showed the skimpy growth in lending activities of the commercial...

Banking on future growth: Moin A Siddiqi analyses banking trends across the Middle East region.
Facing new challenges The banking industry worldwide has to face new challenges rising from globalisation, deregulation, financial innovations and the Internet revolution. The fast changing environment has, over the past decade, had a profound effect on leading banks in both mature and emerging markets. The era of...

Credit card loans grow 20% in Q1.
Byline: LEE C. CHIPONGIAN Credit card loans of the banking sector credit card loans went up by 20.07 percent to to P57.736 billion in the first quarter of this year from P48.085 billion in the same period last year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported yesterday. ...