MORE banks expect no change in lending standards for both business and household loans in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to the latest survey of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
According to the BSP’s third quarter 2025 Senior Bank Loan Officers’ Survey (SLOS), 86 percent of 58 bank respondents expect to maintain their lending standards for businesses, while 87.5 percent expect to keep standards for household loans unchanged.
For business loans, this was up from 78.9 percent in the third quarter, while the rest are split between easing at 3.5 percent and tightening at 10.5 percent.
Similarly, for household loans, this is higher than 77.5 percent in the previous quarter, with around 10.0 percent expecting tighter standards and 2.5 percent possibly easing.
The BSP defined lending standards as the rules banks use when giving loans, such as interest rates, loan size, collateral, loan conditions and repayment terms.
Based on the SLOS, a net 7.0 percent expect to tighten, rather than loosen, standards for business loans, and a net 7.5 percent for household loans in the fourth quarter.
‘This indicates that any future change in credit standards is more likely to reflect tightening than easing,’ the BSP said.
Compared to the third quarter, net tightening is higher at 17.5 percent for business loans and 7.5 percent for household loans.
In terms of demand for business loans, 73.7 percent of banks anticipate that demand will remain steady, slightly lower than 75.4 percent.
Only 1.8 percent of banks anticipate a decline in loan demand, while 24.6 percent see an increase, up from 19.3 percent in the third quarter.
Household loans also showed a similar pattern, with 65 percent of banks expecting demand to stay the same, down from 75 percent in the third quarter.
Meanwhile, 25 percent of banks anticipate a rise in household loan demand, up from 17.5 percent previously, while 10 percent foresee a decline, slightly higher than the 7.5 percent in the third quarter.
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.
The analysis of the results of the SLOS focuses on the quarter-on-quarter changes in the perception of respondent banks.
The responses for the third quarter 2025 SLOS were gathered from September 11, 2025 to October 21, 2025, with a total of 58 respondent banks out of 60 surveyed banks or a 96.7 percent response rate.