The domestic banking sector’s asset quality improved slightly last month, with the non-performing loan (NPL) ratio declining 0.06 percentage points month-on-month to 1.38 percent, Financial Supervisory Commission data showed on Thursday.
Bad loans by the nation’s 37 banks totaled NT$252.8 billion (US$7.76 billion) at the end of last month, down from NT$262.3 billion in August, the data showed.
Total outstanding loans granted by these banks, however, declined by NT$1 billion month-on-month to NT$1.83 trillion last month, the data showed.
Shiau Chang-ruey (蕭長瑞), deputy director-general of the commission’s Banking Bureau, attributed the decline to the NT$23.2 billion fall in loans granted by domestic banks’ offshore banking units and overseas branches.
In contrast, outstanding loans granted by banks’ local branches grew NT$22.2 billion month-on-month, Shiau said in a press briefing on Thursday.
“The local economy appeared to have rebounded faster than other economies, which spurred domestic loan demand,” he said.
The commission’s latest data showed that 31 of the 37 banks had an NPL ratio of less than 2.5 percent last month and five had ratios of between 2.5 percent and 5 percent.
Chinfon Commercial Bank (慶豐銀行) continued to top the list with an NPL ratio of 14.95 percent last month. The government liquidated all of Chinfon’s liabilities earlier this week.
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