DEPOSIT LEVELS ROSE DURING PANDEMIC

More bank accounts in the Philippine financial system are now protected by deposit insurance—an improvement that mirrors an observed increase in savings levels during the pandemic, according to data from a banking regulator.

In a statement, the state-run Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) said that 96.7 percent of the 78.7 million deposit accounts in the country were fully insured by the agency as of the end of September 2020.

The total number of fully insured accounts was 11.8 percent more compared to the 68.1 million recorded in the same period in 2019.

In terms of amount, 11.6 percent of the P14.3 trillion total deposits were fully covered by deposit insurance and represented an increase of 11.3 percent from the P1.5 trillion insured deposits in the same period in 2019.

“The steady growth in the number of deposit accounts and in terms of amount of deposits reflects increased depositor confidence in the banking system despite the adversities posed by the pandemic,” PDIC president Roberto Tan said. “We are confident that the full year data will present even brighter prospects for saving as a positive response to the health crisis.”

The PDIC reported that the double-digit growth in the number of fully insured accounts year-on-year mirrored the double-digit growth of 11.7 percent in the number of total deposit accounts in banks nationwide.

Total deposit amount grew 9.5 percent year-on-year from P13.1 trillion to P14.3 trillion.

Data released by the regulator also showed that deposits with balances of P100,000 and below posted the biggest growth in terms of amount and accounts, or by 12.4 percent from P476.7 billion in September 2019 to P535.7 billion in September 2020. This reflected the double-digit growth of 11.9 percent from 63.6 million deposit accounts to 71.2 million accounts.