Bank deposit accounts more than double in Q3

MANILA, Philippines —  More Filipinos opened basic deposit accounts (BDA) in the third quarter of last year, which bodes well for the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)’s objective of encouraging more people to open bank accounts and onboard them to the formal financial system.

Latest central bank data showed the number of BDA in the country hit 23.6 million in the third quarter of 2023, more than double (175 percent) the 8.6 million accounts in the same period in 2022.

Introduced in 2018, the BDA is a deposit product that has a low account opening balance requirement of P100 or less, no maintaining balance, no dormancy charges, and simple identification requirements.

The BDA was created to meet the needs of the unbanked and low-income sector and foster greater financial inclusion.

In terms of value, total deposits in these BDAs amounted to P35.6 billion in the third quarter last year, around seven times higher than the P4.9 billion in the comparable year-ago period.

So far, 156 banks are offering BDAs. Broken down, five big banks, 18 thrift banks, 118 rural banks and 14 cooperative banks are offering BDAs. Tonik Digital Bank Inc. is the only online lender which offers this type of deposit account to its clients.

Under the central bank’s Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap, the BSP committed to raise the number of Filipino adults with bank accounts to 70 percent and shift 50 percent of total retail payments to electronic channels by 2023.

The BSP is confident it achieved its twin goals last year. It is now working on the next phase of the roadmap. The central bank will release the results of its digitization efforts in July.

Under the Philippine Development Plan, the share of digital payments to retail transactions should reach 60 to 70 percent by 2028.