PNB ramping up IT spending

Lucio Tan-led Philippine National Bank (PNB) is ramping up spending for information technology (IT) over the next two years as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) finalizes the guidelines for digital banking.

Nelson Reyes, chief finance officer at PNB, said the bank is setting aside a higher budget for technology upgrades next year amid the jump in digital transactions.

Reyes said IT spending for this year alone is seen increasing by 15 percent to P2.5 billion and the company is planning to raise the amount in the next two years as the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the importance of digital transformation.

“We are actually in the middle of the planning process for 2021. So chances are we are going to increase this, but as to how much, that is something that we’re still trying to decide,” Reyes said.

Reyes said IT spending would be a big priority for the bank next year and the year after.

PNB president and chief executive officer Jose Arnulfo Veloso said the bank ramped up its digital transformation, recording an 18 percent increase in mobile banking transactions in June compared to the months earlier as a result of the Luzon-wide lockdown.

Veloso said PNB wants clients to understand how they can easily manage their funds and transact by going online using the bank’s digital channels.

“We also want more people to learn about the products that are meant to fit all their needs, and eventually find timely solution with the help of the digital banking experience that we offer,” Veloso said.

According to PNB, it fully supports BSP’s call to promote digital channels for fund transfers via PESONet and InstaPay.

In fact, the Tan-led bank booked a 31 percent jump in the number of digital users to 696,087 as of end- September.

“While many of our branches are open, PNB is encouraging its customers to use digital platforms so that less customers will have to go out of their homes to visit the branches and the ATMs. This move will hopefully help slow down the spread of the COVID-19 virus as more customers will stay home,” Veloso said.

Veloso said PNB is looking at establishing a digital bank, either as a standalone company or as a subsidiary as Filipinos start to embrace and become more comfortable in using digital channels.

“As we get to see more recommendations coming from the regulatory body encouraging a digital bank participation, we would like to also review that and put it into a subsidiary or stand-alone,” Veloso said.

The BSP is set to issue the guidelines for new digital banks within the year to provide an enabling regulatory environment that allows responsible innovation to flourish, cyber resilience, and digitalization of the financial industry.