The Philippine banking system’s asset base has grown steadily over the last 6-7 years. 2  BIS Review 24/2008  The overall asset quality of banks continued to improve as well, with the NPL ratio now moving closer to the pre-crisis level of around 4 percent.
Banks’ overall capital adequacy ratio was also maintained well above regulatory and international standards, shored up by the increased issuance of hybrid financial instruments to strengthen their capital base.