80% of retail customers of BPI use 24/7 channels

Four out of every five retail customers of Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Islands have shifted to 24/7 banking channels such as automated teller machines, Internet, phone and mobile banking platforms.

But as banking transactions are growing alongside the expanding Philippine economy, BPI is stepping up the campaign for 24/7 banking channels to manage foot traffic and optimize the productivity of its 815 branches nationwide.

“We have about 400 people on average going to each branch every day,” said BPI executive vice president Natividad Alejo, who heads the retail segments and channels group. The count does not even include people who transact at the “low” counter or where other transactions and consultations on fund transfers, foreign exchange conversions, loans, trust and bancassurance investments happen. Foot traffic on these low counters are about 80 per branch on a daily basis.

BPI is now nearing the seven million mark in retail customer base this year, Alejo said, of which about three million are enrolled in online banking. About 1.7 million customers are estimated as active online banking users, defined as those who have used this platform in the last six months.

Alejo said “80 percent of our transactions are done through 24/7 channels including ATM.” Bulk of the 24/7 transactions are done through ATMs. BPI has about 2,000 ATM machines around the country, she said. The plan is to further expand the bank’s ATM presence.

Noel Tagaza, BPI senior vice president and head at electronic channels group, said that part of the strategy would be to deploy cash deposit machines that could likewise capture check deposits. By declogging check transactions especially by corporate clients at the branches, he said tellers could concentrate on other high-value transactions.

With an increasingly mobile lifestyle, Tagaza said “banking needs to stay one step ahead” and provide “wide options to accessing money beyond the walls of the bank.”

On security risks, Alejo said BPI had never had any issue on breach of security in its Internet banking platform. On the other hand, ATM fraud was an industry issue that banks and banking regulators were working on, she said.

“It’s not the system. It’s the physical card (that’s often compromised). It’s something we are very actively addressing. We have fielded security guards in the most critical locations,” she said, adding that bank staff were trained to regularly check transactions.

As the customer base is growing, BPI is looking to add 80 more branches within a year.

As part of its campaign for 24/7 branching channels, BPI has launched a program offering rewards to clients paying their bills via these channels. The “Get that Gadget” promo allows customers to earn entries to a raffle for mobile gadgets by making qualified bills payment transactions from Sept. 1 to Nov. 30 this year. Each month during the promo period, payments of at least P50 through BPI Express Online, BPI Express Mobile, or BPI Express Phone qualifies for the promo.