As of December 2007, these banks had an outstanding loan portfolio of P6 billion, extended to nearly 800,000 clients or an average of 7,500 pesos per borrower. Significantly, our microborrowers have also become net savers; as of end 2007, their combined deposits with banks have reached close to 2 billion pesos.
In the whole discussion on procyclicality, the advantages of the risk-sensitive capital requirements of Basel II should not be forgotten. This is also one of the main findings of the paper by Repullo and Suarez, which will be presented at this conference.