BSP Financial Inclusion Survey results

BSP Citing results of the 2019 Financial Inclusion Survey, “75% or about 54 million of Filipinos do not have investments. While this figure may be disappointingly low, it shows, however, immense room for growth in the investment market,” said Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno.

“Many Filipinos perceive investing to be costly and have yet to realize its value as an additional income source. Investments provide people the means to enhance their financial health as well as to protect their welfare against economic risks and sudden downturns such as this ongoing pandemic,” Diokno said.

Retirement Gap

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, there are 7.6 million Filipinos aged 60 and above, of which only 20 percent are covered by either the Social Security System or the Government Service Insurance System.

Filipinos nearing retirement age are financially unprepared for the financial cost of living beyond their employment years, more so with the risks of the sharp economic downturn brought about by once-in-a-lifetime events like the ongoing global health crisis.

Pensions are not retirement accounts but merely one of the tools (or pillars) needed when retirement comes. Aside from deposit accounts, loans, and payment services, affordable retail investment products should be among the regular Filipinos’ arsenal of financial tools.

PERA - Personal Equity Retirement Accounts and other investment/financial tools are meant to supplement this.

BSP Financial Programs

The central bank has promoted a slew of policies meant to improve financial inclusion among Filipinos as a first step and eventually progress to educating more citizens about the benefits of of investing going forward.

“Creating a community of investors requires a financially literate public and strong market conduct reinforced by sound consumer protection mechanisms,” the central bank chief said.

So far, the central bank has partnered with the Department of Education (DepEd) to institutionalize financial literacy training. Such partnership can reach 29 million learners and 800,000 teachers.

The BSP also partnered with the Overseas Workers and Welfare Administration to provide financial literacy training, which can benefit 2.3 million overseas Filipino workers.

With these data on hand, if you feel left behind by not investing, then don’t worry about it. You can still participate and there’s plenty of financial product/service options out there and abundance to go around.

So what are you waiting for? Get financially educated, and then start saving or budgeting for your first  investment soon!

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A NEW Credit Card Scam

Since the government imposed lockdown measures to curb the global pandemic last March, scammers have become more creative and sophisticated. Apart from those lurking in the digital space, scammers will still attempt to hijack physical devices or cards.

American bank Citigroup has issued a warning about a new scam that tricks credit and debit cardholders into surrendering their cards to people posing as bank representatives offering purported upgrades and freebies.

This is a modus operandi to access the cash advance feature of the card, make unauthorized withdrawals or cash advance transactions with the account or even create an online account using the victim’s credentials.

Citi reminds cardholders that it would never ask clients to surrender their Citi credit and debit cards or OTPs. Apart from PINS or OTPs, Citi asked clients never to divulge their credit card information such as expiry date or CVV for any service calls, promos, upgrades or replacements.

If someone has called to ask for any of these, clients were urged to report it immediately to the bank.

Stay Vigilant and Stay Safe!

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