Group on Philippine banks: Focus on domestic market

Bankers Association of the Philippines advises banks to prioritise domestic operations and refrain from risky moves.

BAP president Aurelio R. Montinola III also urged commercial banks to help the Philippine economy by "taking money and lending money, and leave the cowboys to do the exotic investment banking stuff."

The general outlook for the global banking system is fairly negative, with the view that recovery will be generally anemic. But the general perception likewise is that banks in the Asia Pacific region are doing better than the rest of the world, according to a report in the Philippine Star.

"But the main message to the region is that the old model of being export-oriented will not work, and that the model today is moving to the domestic-oriented, consumption-oriented economies," Montinola, who is also the chief executive of the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), said.