MANILA -- An official of the Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) said he hopes that half of their account holders would shift to digital transactions by the end of the year.
In a briefing on Tuesday, BPI Chief Operating Officer Ramon Jocson said they have 8.5 million accounts, 1.8 million of which have passbooks.
Jocson said new account holders usually access the bank’s electronic channels once they open their accounts.
“The challenge for us is for those who have accounts with us, ATM (automated teller machines) accounts that have not gotten to the branches yet to apply for an online account,” he said.
Jocson, however, said that once the account holders realize the advantage of accessing the digital platform, “the adoption is quite fast.”
“But it (the challenge) is really trying to reach out to them to involve them,” he said.
“So our target right now is to get to at least 50 percent (of the account holders to use the digital platform) by the end of the year,” he added.
Domestic banks are keeping up with technological innovations and changes in the financial landscape to ensure they are able to fully cater to their clients.
Asked how much BPI has allocated for their technology-related spending, Jocson declined to give specific figures, noting that “it is a part of our whole IT (information technology) budget.”
He said major banks in Asia allocate about 7.5 percent to 8 percent of their total revenues to IT budget.
“We also allocate about the same level,” Jocson said, noting, however, that “within that, we now have to mix digital finances with that of other IT-related expenditures.”
“We have to mix that because it’s very hard also to overspend,” he added.
On Tuesday, the bank launched its digital ecosystem, which has two components -- Open Banking and BPI Digital Platforms.
BPI Chief Digital Officer Noel Santiago said open banking is “far reaching and with near-limitless possibilities.”
“We are capitalizing on this to grow our network of trusted partners so that clients can easily and conveniently transact via one app or website,” he said.
The bank has partnered with nine entities with 36 services, such as Lazada, GCash, and Paymaya, to further aid their clients’ needs.
It also launched its conversational banking app called “Bea of BPI”, which serves as a personal banker. (PNA)
