FIJI’S total financial system gross assets stood at around $22.6 billion as of June 2018, the Reserve Bank of Fiji (RBF) noted.
The central bank in its 2018 Financial Stability Review noted the growth in the Fijian financial system dominated by the banking industry.
In the mix of total gross assets in the financial system, Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF) represented 28.9 per cent, which is more than a quarter of the financial system.
The three largest commercial banks – ANZ Bank, Bank South Pacific and Westpac Banking Corporation – represented 34 per cent of the financial system.
Collectively, these four institutions represent 62.3 per cent of the Fijian financial system and are considered Fiji’s systemically important financial institution due to their size and level of interconnectedness.
According to the central bank, the banking sector continued to be the “preferred” channel for funding indicated by its larger share of the financial system aggregate credit, at 76.2 per cent.
However, commercial banks’ relative share reduced from 78.5 per cent in June 2017 to 76.2 per cent in June 2018.
In contrast, the share of other credit providers’ increased to 23.8 per cent in June 2018 (June 2017: 21.5 per cent).
RBF noted that this was largely due to an increase in customer term loans provided to large private sector businesses by the FNPF.
The total credit provided by other credit providers now stands at $2.13 billion, an increase of 18.8 percent over the year.
In terms of concentration, loans by commercial banks continued to be largely concentrated in the private non-financial corporations, which make up 65.1 percent of total loans, followed by the household sector at 29.2 percent (Figure 11).
However, system liquidity remained adequate and while non-performing loans edged up marginally in the review period, the Fijian financial system continued to be assessed as safe and sound.
