EastWest’s planned ₱9 billion rights offering highlights a difficult trade-off for Philippine lenders: preserve dividends, finance loan growth, or prepare for a longer period of high rates and elevated credit losses. Philippine bank stocks have long appealed to income investors for a straightforward reason: They combine regular cash dividends with exposure to an economy that, over time, should require more mortgages, business loans, credit cards and wealth-management services. That proposition is becoming more complicated. East West Banking Corp.’s plan to raise as much as ₱9 billion through a stock-rights offering has put a new question before dividend investors. If inflation stays high, the peso remains under pressure, and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas keeps monetary policy restrictive, will other banks eventually have to conserve earnings or raise fresh capital? EastWest’s move isn’t evidence of a systemwide capital shortage. Philippine banks entered 2026 with substantial b...