Formal account ownership rate Philippines 2015-2021
According to the Financial Inclusion Survey in 2021, around 56 percent of the adult population in the Philippines has an account with a financial provider. This was a significant increase from the share in 2019.
What’s driving the increase in formal account ownership in the Philippines?
The recent increase in the share of Filipinos with a formal account with a financial provider was driven by e-money accounts. From just eight percent of the population in 2019, the share of e-money account holders in the Philippines overtook those with a bank account in 2021. GCash was the leading mobile wallet application in the Philippines based on monthly active users in 2022, followed by Maya.
Attitude towards digital banks
According to a survey in 2023, Filipinos still prefer their main bank account to be a traditional bank over a digital bank. However, among those who chose digital banks, they identified ease and convenience as the main reasons. In addition, 41 percent of respondents said they chose digital banks because they were able to bank at any time of the day at their convenience.
