BSP tells banks to accept all nat’l ID formats

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has ordered banks to accept all formats of the national identification cards, including the digital version, as an official government-issued ID of a person as well as a valid and primary proof of identity. This was the directive given in Memorandum No. 2024-026 dated Aug. 9, which required banks and other financial institutions under BSP supervision to honor all formats of the national ID when processing transactions “subject to authentication.” The BSP said that banks may use the National ID eVerify website to check the authenticity of the national ID and its other recognized formats, including the digital versions. However, based on the advice of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the use of the eVerify website should only be for “low-risk transactions,” it added. BSP-supervised financial institutions were also told to include the digital national ID in their list of acceptable valid IDs needed to open accounts and perform various bank-related transactions. Launched in June, the digital national ID allows a newly registered person to immediately enjoy the benefits of being an ID holder while waiting for the physical card to be delivered to them. The digital format of the national ID contains the person’s card number, digital ID number, as well as basic demographic information such as front-facing photograph, full name, birthday, present address, sex, blood type, marital status and a quick response (QR) code. The PSA said the digital national ID was a valid proof of identification and age that could be presented in any government or private transactions. Figures from the PSA showed over 50 million physical national ID cards were delivered across the country as of April 12, while over 86 million Filipinos were already registered to the system. —IAN NICOLAS P. CIGARAL