Four in five Philippine banks hold business lending rules steady in Q3

Nearly a third of lenders expect demand from companies to rise.

Philippine banks expect to keep lending standards largely unchanged in the third quarter of 2026 (Q3 2026), although a net tightening bias remains as lenders continue to assess risks from a less certain economic outlook.

According to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) latest Senior Bank Loan Officers’ Survey, 75.5% of respondent banks expect credit standards for enterprise loans to remain unchanged in Q3 2026, whilst 80% expect lending standards for household loans to stay the same.

The figures are higher than in the second quarter, indicating that fewer banks expect to change their lending standards.

Amongst banks that expect to tighten credit standards, the survey showed a moderation in the tightening bias for both enterprise and household loans. 

A small number of banks also expect to ease lending standards for enterprises in Q3 2026.

However, the diffusion index, which measures the difference between the share of banks expecting to tighten lending standards and those expecting to ease them, remained positive for both businesses and households. This points to a net tightening bias amongst banks.

Banks cited a less favourable or more uncertain economic outlook, lower risk tolerance and weaker borrower profiles as factors that could prompt them to tighten credit standards.

The survey also pointed to stronger demand for enterprise loans in Q3 2026. About 64.2% of respondent banks expect demand from businesses to remain unchanged, whilst 30.2% expect demand to increase and 5.7% expect it to decline.

Compared with Q2, fewer banks expect enterprise loan demand to remain unchanged or decline, whilst more expect demand to rise.

Banks attributed the expected increase mainly to higher financing needs for customer inventories and accounts receivable, as well as an improved economic outlook amongst their customers.

Household borrowing demand is also expected to increase amongst some banks, driven by stronger household consumption, limited alternative sources of funding, higher housing investment and more attractive bank financing terms.

The results are based on the BSP’s Q2 2026 Senior Bank Loan Officers’ Survey, which gathered responses from 56 of 60 banks surveyed, representing a 93.3% response rate. 

The survey was conducted from 3 June to 7 July 2026 and covered universal and commercial banks, thrift banks and rural banks.