A majority of Philippine banks maintained their credit standards for business and household loans in the third quarter of 2025, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed Monday, although a slight net tightening is anticipated in the fourth quarter.
The latest results of the Senior Bank Loan Officers’ Survey (SLOS) revealed that 78.9 percent of banks kept their lending standards unchanged for business loans, a small decrease from 82.1 percent in the previous quarter.
About 77.5 percent of the banks maintained their credit standards for household loans, down from 82.5 percent in the second quarter.
Looking ahead to the fourth quarter of 2025, the BSP said an even higher percentage of banks expect credit standards to remain steady.
The SLOS revealed that 86 percent of the respondents are likely to keep the same lending standards for business loans, while 87.5 percent expect to maintain the same standards for household loans.
Some respondents anticipating tighter or looser lending standards expect a net tightening of seven percent for business loans and 7.5 percent for household loans.
“This indicates that any future change in credit standards is more likely to reflect tightening than easing,” the BSP said.
