MANILA, Philippines — Foreign and local banks have recorded a sharp increase in digital transactions as more Filipinos embrace technology amid the extended enhanced community quarantine in Luzon to slowdown the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 or (COVID-19).
Union Bank of the Philippines president and chief executive officer Edwin Bautista told The STAR the current health crisis has amplified the need for banks to go digital.
“COVID-19 has made more Filipinos realize the advantages of online banking,” Bautista said.
For the month of March, UnionBank logged a 160 percent rise in daily sign-ups to its online and mobile banking portals and enabled more than 500,000 credit card transactions as well as well over one million InstaPay and PesoNet fund transfer transactions for free.
It also registered a tremendous surge in new accounts opened through the UnionBank Online platform, about 2,700 times higher than year-ago levels.
Noel Santiago, chief digital officer at Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), said the listed bank booked a 25 percent jump in its retail digital transactions including money transfers to other BPI accounts, interbank transfers, transactions with e-commerce partners, bills payments during the first two weeks of the enhanced community quarantine.
Santiago said for money transfers within BPI and BPI Family accounts reached almost a million transactions, while interbank transactions via InstaPay reached close to 300,000 or 50 percent more than pre-quarantine levels.
In the last two weeks of March, BPI through its retail digital platforms facilitated more than 1.5 million transactions worth about P8 billion as well as 4.5 million ATM cash transactions amounting to P21 billion.
“The transaction statistics has confirmed that digital banking is no longer just an option, but a mainstream financial service. People are realizing they can do financial transactions from the comfort of their homes. Our foresight and investments in digitalization prepared us to be ready in times like this,” he said.
The 168-year old bank sees a continued increase in digital banking adoption after it recorded close to 100,000 customers sign-ups for their online and mobile banking platforms in just one month, bringing the total retail digital customer base to almost four million.
“Necessity is driving the rapid adoption of digital. People are now seeing the value of going digital, and BPI is encouraging them to take advantage of the security and convenience of digital banking, which will be the new normal, post COVID-19,” Santiago said.
CIMB Bank Philippines CEO Vijay Manoharan said the country’s first all-digital and mobile-first bank expects an uptick in net account deposits before and after the enhanced community quarantine.
“Our acquisition for new customers continue to be healthy after a few days to momentary dip immediately after the enhanced community quarantine,” Manoharan said.
“Now we are back to our pre-enhanced community quarantine numbers. Our transactions are healthy,” Manoharan added saying customers are able to access the bank’s app 24/7 to access their funds and perform transactions.
CIMB Philippines aims to grow its customer base to 3.5 million this year after signing about two million Filipino clients since starting operations in December 2018.
Graham FitzGerald, president and CEO of British banking giant HSBC, encouraged customers to make use of the bank’s internet and mobile banking platforms although majority of its branches in Metro Manila remain open on weekdays during the lockdown.
FitzGerald said its clients would continue to enjoy fee-free transactions for real time money transfers to HSBC accounts and same-day local money transfers to other banks through mobile banking and the HSBC mobile App, local ATM withdrawals.