FILE PHOTO: A logo of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Central Bank of the Philippines) is seen at their main building in Manila, Philippines March 23, 2016. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco
Personal Equity and Retirement Account (Pera) contributions have reached P289.82 million as of Sept. 8, more than double the P140.76 million recorded a year ago as digital processes attracted more Filipinos to sign up.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said in a statement the number of contributors or investors almost tripled to 4,892 from 1,684 two years after Digital Pera was launched.
The Digital Pera is an online one-stop shop where investors can conveniently open an account, browse various Pera products, monitor their Pera accounts and settle transactions through the electronic payments systems InstaPay and PESONet.
The digital platform was launched in September 2020, four years after the original Pera rollout in 2016.
Pera is a voluntary retirement savings program that supplements state-based pension plans and employer-sponsored retirement plans.
Contributions from Filipino employees currently account for two-thirds or 67.43 percent of total Pera contributions at P195.42 million.
The remaining one-third of the contributions or P94.4 million came from overseas Filipino workers and self-employed individuals.
The BSP called on more Filipinos to take full advantage of the benefits offered under Pera, including the exemption of Pera earnings from taxes on final withholding, capital gains and regular income.