MANILA, Philippines — After the pandemic disrupted conventional payment systems, half of the country’s adult population now own a financial account.
The financial inclusion survey conducted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas revealed that financial transaction account ownership among adults soared 56% in 2021 compared to the 29% reported in 2019.
This was the largest two-year growth since the survey took in 2015.
Responsible for this growth was the proliferation of e-money account ownership. The BSP noted that this segment expanded 36% last year from a measly 8% in 2019. Among financial accounts, this was the most common account type set up among middle and low-income adults and those aged 15 to 49 years old.
That the latest figures were not surprising as the BSP credited the pandemic for accelerating the adoption of digital payment systems. For one, the survey data paint a picture of broader financial inclusion, one that the national government has been trying to widen since the onset of the pandemic.
The BSP poll surveyed 1,200 adults, aged 15 years old and up, hailing from Metro Manila and North/Central, South Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. In this survey round, there were 77.2 million adults in the Philippines back in 2021.
Data broken down showed that of those who owned mobile phones and had internet access last year, 60% of Filipinos conducted their financial transactions online. This was a huge leap from the 17% recorded in the 2019 survey round.
The pandemic altered the public’s approach to handling their finances, as data showed six out of 10 Filipinos changed their behavior. FIS data in 2021 revealed that 37% of Filipinos were saving more for emergencies, relied on online banking and digital payments (17%) and tended to borrow (15%).
Data also revealed that adults with bank accounts almost doubled to 23% last year, a far cry from the 12% recorded in 2019.
The BSP said banks remain the public’s preferred institution for storing their savings, towering high over cooperatives and microfinance hubs. However, half of the survey respondents still stored their savings at home.
Owning a financial transaction account was not without limitations. The absence of proper documents, commonplace among respondents, the lack of an income and hefty transaction costs remained roadblocks to financial inclusion. These were telling among the country’s poor, the BSP said.
“Amid the latest figures, the BSP will continue to broaden its efforts to foster the wider adoption of digital technology, which has effectively enabled the onboarding of more Filipinos into the formal financial system,” said BSP Governor Felipe M. Medalla.