More Filipinos opened low-cost basic deposit accounts (BDAs) in the second quarter of 2024, helping the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) achieve its financial inclusion goals.
Latest data from the BSP showed there were 25 million BDA depositors in the three months through June, up by 9.2 percent compared with a year ago. This pushed up the value of BDA deposits during the period to P37.1 billion, representing a 41.1 percent year-on-year increase.
That figure contributed to the 13.84-percent annualized growth in the number of accounts of the entire Philippine banking system to 119 million as of end-June. Total deposits of the local banking sector likewise climbed by 9.5 percent to P19.5 trillion, data showed.
READ: Basic bank accounts ballooned in third quarter 2023
Filipinos can easily open BDAs, introduced in 2018, in banks for a minimal fee of not more than P100. BDAs have no maintaining balance and dormancy charges.
These low-cost and no-frills accounts are intended to foster greater financial inclusion by catering to the needs of Filipinos who are not yet using the banking system, especially those in the low-income sector.
Through BDAs, more Filipinos can—through banks that do offer this product—open a savings account that earns interest and is insured by Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp.
Banks that offer BDAs call it by different names other than the generic “basic deposit account.”
State-run universal bank Land Bank of the Philippines has “Landbank Piso,” which is short for Perang Inimpok Savings Option. Robinsons Bank Corp., a commercial bank, has “Simple Savings.”
BPI Direct BanKO Inc., a thrift bank, calls it “PondoKo.” Silahis Bank Inc., a rural bank in Bulacan, has “Munting Yaman.”
As it is, the growth in BDAs bodes well for the BSP’s goal to onboard 70 percent of adult Filipinos to the formal financial system.
However, latest data from the BSP showed the number of banks that offer BDAs decreased to 156 in the final quarter of last year, from 158 in mid-2023, amid the closure of various thrift banks that typically allow clients to open such deposit accounts. INQ