ATM cardholders in Philippines now stand at 78 million

CEBU, Philippines – The automated teller machine cardholder base in the Philippines stood at 78 million as of March this year, said the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

In a statement on the 25th anniversary of ATM network BancNet, BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said the number had increased from over 73 million recorded as of end-2014.

Tetangco said that BancNet's 113 member institutions as of end-2014 represent that ATM cardholder base number.

Tetangco said the Philippines is now creating a unified ATM switch network through the integration of Megalink into BancNet.

"Our eyes are now set on creating a National Retail Payment System or NRPS...," the governor said.

The idea of NRPS is to allow more Filipinos have easy access to financial services, have accounts to make payments and transfer funds to other accounts.

"Efficient retail payments contribute to the stability and efficiency of the financial system and the economy as a whole," the BSP official said.

He pointed out that digitization of payments can promote greater financial inclusion.

According to the National Baseline Survey on Financial Inclusion the BSP recently released, only four out of 10 Filipino adults currently have savings, of whom only 32.7% put their money in banks. The survey also found out that 47% of Filipinos have debts but banks contribute only 4.4% of their borrowings.

Moreover, early this year, a memorandum of agreement was signed to merge the country's two major ATM networks namely Megalink and BancNet, with the latter as the surviving entity.

The two will be integrated into a single network, making the system simpler and operationally more efficient.

BancNet ATMs account for 79.53% of all ATMs in the country.