The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ second Consumer Finance Survey (CFS) results showed that majority of Filipino households accounting for 86 percent don’t have deposit accounts.
The CFS is a nationwide quadrennial survey on consumer finances among Filipino households. It generates data on the financial conditions of households such as financial and non-financial assets,level of indebtedness and sources of credits, and income, spending and insurance coverages. The survey results also provide a breakdown of respondents residing in the National Capital Region (NCR) and in Areas Outside the National Capital Region.
BSP Department of Statistics Director Rosabel B. Guerrero reported during the Multi-Sectoral Forum on the 2014 Consumer Finance Survey Results at BSP Davao Regional Office Thursday that only two in ten households (14 percent) have bank account. 18. 7 percent of these are in NCR, 13.3 percent are in AONCR while 14.2 percent are in Region XI.
Guerrero said the main reason cited by households for not having a deposit account was not having enough money to keep an account.
“They do not need a bank/cash account; the bank/institution location is far; cannot manage an account; service charges are too high; and minimum balance is too high,” she added.
Majority who are unbanked are self-employed, or working for a private household, other household’s farm, or in other informal occupations.
Of the 14 percent who have bank accounts, the director said commercial banks are a popular choice. Eight in 10 deposit accounts are kept in these banks or 50.2 percent in commercial banks, 13.8 percent in rural/cooperative banks, 10.1 percent in savings/thrift banks and nine percent in microfinance banks.
More than half of the respondents sourced their income from wages and salaries, while others earned through self-employment, financial assistance from abroad and financial assistance from other households.
Overall, the formal banks accounted for 83.1 percent of all deposit accounts of households, while 11.4 percent, 4.1 percent and 3.6 percent are in multipurpose/credit cooperative, paluwagan and savings and loan association.
In Region XI, 40 percent of households have deposit account in commercial banks, 19.8 percent in multipurpose or credit cooperatives, and 13.8 percent in rural or cooperative banks.
Guerrero further reported, seven in 10 households had interest-paying deposit accounts which indicated that 30 percent of the households still prefer to maintain deposit accounts even if their average daily balance falls below the required amount to earn interest or had earned a negligible amount of interest.
BSP XI Director Sonia Delos Reyes emphasized that the CFS result also validated the policy directions that BSP has pursued in the recent years. She stated BSP is consistently working towards building a more inclusive financial system and is aggressively promoting financial education, encouraging more households to give attention to savings and investments.
