Inclusion gains to 29% of adults

The number of Filipinos enrolled in a formal banking institution is definitely growing as reflected in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) latest Financial Inclusion Survey (FIS), released on Thursday.

“The share of Filipino adults who own an account climbed to 29 percent in 2019 from 23 percent in 2017... The 6-percentage point increase in account penetration represents an additional five million Filipinos opening an account within that two-year period, a notable improvement from the 0.6 percentage point growth in 2017 from 2015,” the FIS said.

“Growth was largely driven by e-money accounts which rose to 8 percent in 2019 from 1 percent in 2017. MFI (microfinance institutions) accounts also grew from 8 percent in 2017 to 12 percent on par with bank accounts which barely moved from 11.5 percent in 2017,” it added.

Online trade gains

Still, the central bank noted an uptake in the usage of bank accounts for payment transactions, growing more than twice from 18 percent in 2017 to 39 percent in 2019.

In terms of economic class, account ownership among the poorest nearly doubled from 14 percent in 2017 to 27 percent in 2019. However, the latest data proved to be slightly shy of the national average of 29 percent.

“The number of Filipino adults who are unbanked is estimated at 51.2 million, out of a total adult population of 72 million in 2019. Lack of enough money remains the topmost reason for not having an account, as reported by almost half (45 percent) of the unbanked,” the BSP explained.

According to the central bank, the perceived lack of the need to open a bank account could be traced to the lack of awareness that such could be utilized as a convenient tool to settle financial transactions.

Digital economy

Moreover, the BSP noted the huge number of Filipino adults who have mobile phones (69 percent) and connected to the internet (53 percent), of which a measly number use their phones (12 percent) and internet connection (9 percent) for their financial transactions.

This translates to seven in 10 unbanked adults who have a mobile phone and represents an untapped opportunity for digital finance.