How Competitive Are Interests Rates Offered By Philippines’ Digital Banks?
by Fintech News Philippines June 5, 2023In the Philippines, digital banking challengers are making competitive strides against traditional banks, luring customers with high-yield savings accounts and term deposit products that pay up to 10% per annum (p.a.).
The figure represents more than double the national average annual percentage rate of 3.68-5.14%, according to data from Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) deputy governor Francisco Dakila Jr.
An analysis by Digital Banks PH, a news aggregator and Facebook community, found that among the 13 highest yield savings accounts in the Philippines, eight are provided by new digital challengers.
Highest-yield savings and term deposit accounts in the Philippines, Source: Digital Banks PH, Facebook, May 2023
Maya Bank
Maya Bank, a licensed digital bank owned by Voyager Innovations, is offering the most competitive savings account at the moment. The Maya Savings account, which is running a promotional interest rate from March 7 to May 31, 2023, allows customers to enjoy up to 10% interest p.a. with no minimum balance.
The rate is, however, only applicable to the first PHP 100,000 in the account. Balances in excess of that amount earn a 4% p.a. interest up to the first PHP 5 million. The promotion is available to both new and existing Maya Savings account holders, and only applies to transactions made within the promotion period.
Another Maya Bank savings account featured in the list is the Maya Personal Goal, a savings account that’s designed similarly to a term deposit but with more attractive features such as no cancellation penalty.
The account currently pays out 6% p.a. for up to PHP 1 million in deposit, and customers can create up to five goal accounts. Maya Goals is the ninth highest-yield savings account in the Philippines.
Maybank
Besides the Philippines’ new digital challengers, some traditional banking institutions also made it into the list. Maybank Philippines currently offers an interest rate of up to 8% p.a. through a promotional campaign that’ll be running until May 31, 2023 for its iSave Savings Account.
The promotion is open to qualified Maybank iSave accountholders who have an active account during the promo and qualifying period and has increased their balance from March 31 to May 31, 2023.
The interest rate on varies depending on the amount of money in the account. For balances of up to PHP 500,000, customers earn an interest rate of 8% p.a., while for balances above PHP 500,000, they earn an interest rate of 0.25% p.a. The 8% interest rate makes Maybank’s iSave the second highest-yield savings account in the Philippines.
UnionDigital Bank
UnionDigital Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Union Bank of the Philippines, is another BSP-licensed digital bank that offers some of the Philippines’ most competitive savings accounts.
The bank currently has three term deposit accounts in the top 13 list that rank at the third, sixth and tenth positions. These accounts allow customers to earn 7%, 6.5% and 6% p.a. in interest but require them to have their money locked in for a year, 60 days and 30 days, respectively.
NetBank
NetBank Mobile, a mobile banking application by the Filipino bank NetBank, offers 4%-6.5% interest rate p.a. based on the corresponding date of account opening. Accounts opened from December 21, 2022, to January 16, 2023 get the highest rate, earning 6.5% p.a. until August 2023. This interest rate makes NetBank Mobile’s Savings Account the fourth highest-yield savings product in the Philippines.
Diskartech
DiskarTech, a banking app provided by Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC), offers a high interest rate of 6.5% p.a. for its digital savings account, making it the fifth highest-yield savings product in the Philippines. The account has no required initial deposit, no maintaining balance, and no dormancy fees. It has a maximum deposit limit of PHP 49,700.00 and any balance above that amount earns no interest.
UNOBank
Another digital challenger bank featured in the list is UNOBank. The digital bank, which received its license in 2021, offers UNOboost, a term deposit account that delivers 6.5% p.a. against a three-month lock-in period. UNOboost is the seventh highest-yield savings account in the Philippines.
CIMB Bank Philippines
CIMB Bank Philippines, a member of Malaysian banking group CIMB Bank, is running a promotional campaign until June 30, 2023 which lets customers earn 6% p.a. on their first PHP 200,000 average daily balance.
To qualify, customers must be an existing CIMB Bank depositor of Upsave and/orGSave account, as of April 30, 2023. Any amount exceeding PHP 200,000 gets the regular base rate of 2.6% p.a. for GSave accounts and 2.5% for UpSave accounts.
Tonik
Next, at the 11th position is a six-month term deposit account provided by Tonik, a Singapore-owned digital bank that targets the Philippines’ unbanked and underserved populations. Tonik’s Time Deposit investment account allows customers to earn up to 6% p.a. Starting at six months, customers can set the starting amount to as low as PHP 5,000 and open up to five time deposit accounts within their savings account.
GoTyme
Another savings account featured in the list is GoTyme Bank’s Go Save. The savings account allows customers to earn up to 5% interest per year, paid monthly, with no minimum nor maximum deposit balance requirement.
Like Maya Goals, Go Save lets customers create up to five different accounts with personalized goals and timelines.
Customers also access automation tools to help them save money quickly, including Auto-Save, a feature that automatically transfers any amount into the savings account on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis; and Save the Change, which rounds up each swipe of the GoTyme Bank Visa debit card to the nearest PHP 10 or PHP 100 and deposits that extra change into the Go Save account.
Sea Bank
And SeaBank, a Filipino rural bank, offers a savings account that offers 5% p.a. for account balances of up to PHP 250,000. Balances in excess of PHP 250,000 earn a 3% interest rate p.a. The SeaBank Savings Account requires no maintaining balance and has no lock-in period.
Since introducing its digital banking framework in 2020, the BSP has delivered licenses to six entities. All six digital banks, namely GoTyme, Maya Bank, Overseas Filipino Bank, Tonik, UnionDigital Bank and UNOBank, started operating within the following 24 months.
With these reforms, the government aims to increase competition in the banking sector, boost innovation and expand financial inclusion in a country where only 56% of the adult population had a formal bank account in 2021, according to findings from a survey conducted by BSP.
Featured image credit: Edited from Freepik
