15.8M Filipinos own an account

THE number of Filipino adults who own an account is estimated at 15.8 million or around one fourth of the total adult population, according to the 2017 Financial Inclusion Survey (FIS) conducted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

Ownership of an account that can be used to save money, receive salary, send or receive remittance, and pay bills is a basic indicator of financial inclusion. Banks continue to have a higher share (11.5 percent) in account penetration than non-banks such as microfinance non-government organizations (8.1 percent), cooperatives (2.9 percent), and non-stock savings and loan associations (0.3 percent). Only 1.3 percent of adults have an electronic money (emoney) account.

For the 52.8 million adults who do not have an account, 60 percent reported not having enough money as the main reason, followed by the perceived lack of need (21 percent) and absence of documentary requirements (18 percemt). Other reasons cited are high cost (10 percent), lack of knowledge in account opening (nine percent), lack of work (eight percent), and lack of awareness (eight percent).

The survey also found out that Filipino adults saved more and borrowed less in 2017. The percentage of adults with savings increased to 48 percent from 43 percent in 2015, while incidence of borrowing decreased to 22 percent from 47 percent in 2015. The share of borrowers obtaining credit from informal sources declined significantly to 40 percent in 2017 from 72 percent in 2015. BSP