MAJORITY of the bank have maintained their respective credit standards during the fourth quarter of 2023.

According to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) based on the results of the Senior Bank Loan Officers' Survey (SLOS) , it showed that the majority of the respondents kept their credit standards generally unchanged for lending to businesses and consumers based on the modal approach.

It stated that the diffusion index (DI) method, it stated that varied results had reflected a net tightening of credit standards for firms.

There is also a net easing of loan standards for households.

The BSP said that the SLOS consists of questions on loan officers’ perceptions relating to the overall credit standards of their respective banks, as well as to factors affecting the supply of and demand for loans to both enterprises and households.

However, under the modal approach, the survey said that they analyzed by looking at the option with the highest share of responses. 

The three options include tightening, easing, or unchanged credit standards for loans to enterprises and for loans to households.

For a DI approach, a positive DI for credit standards indicates that the proportion of respondent banks that have tightened their credit standards exceeds those that eased, whereas a negative DI for credit standards indicates that more respondent banks have eased their credit standards compared to those that tightened.