BPI sees 25-30% growth in e-banking

MANILA, Philippines - The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) expects steady growth in its electronic banking business this year with the increasing number of Filipinos using Internet, phone and mobile in their transactions, ranking bank officials said.

Manuel Tagaza, BPI senior vice president and head of e-channels group, said they expect a 25 to 30-percent increase in the bank’s penetration coverage.

In 2012, Tagaza said they have surpassed their target as the average volume of transactions passing through electronic channels reached about P18 billion monthly.

“We surpassed our target. Our target last year was 25 percent, but we exceeded more than 25 percent over the previous year. So we closed the year at an average rate of more than 30 percent across channels. There is growing awareness on the use of mobile, Internet phone banking in the country,” he said.

In terms of the number of actual users, he said: “We are now at 38-percent growth – online is still the most popular platform that we have. We now have 1.2 million users as of yearend.”

For online, BPI 24/7, the electronic banking platform of the Ayala-owned financial institution, hit the one-million mark in 2012 and closed the year at 1.2 million.

Carlo Gatuslao, BPI assistant vice president and division head of channels marketing and sales division, said they would continue to conduct a series of promotion campaign to further boost the bank’s electronic channels coverage.

“We will continue to have campaigns, big and small, and the branches are also helping the clients to use our channels as it helps both the client and the bank,” he said.

“For the bank, there is operational efficiency and much better for the customers because they can do it anytime and anywhere,” he added.

BPI 24/7, he said, have projects in the pipeline which will further enhance services to their clients.