MANILA, Philippines — The number of low-income Filipinos who own bank or financial accounts has almost doubled in recent years due, in large part, to the continued digitalization of financial services, according to the central bank.
In a statement, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said there has been an increase in account ownership among the country’s poorest citizens, or the class “E” socioeconomic segment, nearly doubling to 27 percent in 2019 from 14 percent in 2017.
The same trend can be observed across the broader economy as account ownership among Filipino adults rose to 29 percent in 2019 from 23 percent in 2017, translating to an additional five million Filipinos be…
Keep on reading: Number of bank accounts of poorest Filipinos has doubled, says BSP