BSP: Filipino account ownership down to 50% in 2025, household access up to 85%

The share of Filipino adults with formal financial accounts fell to 50% in 2025, but more households had access at 86%, suggesting that many families rely on shared financial access, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said in its latest Consumer Finance and Inclusion Survey (CFIS) report.

Individual account ownership in 2025 reflected a six-percentage-point drop from 56% in 2021, mainly due to the drop in loan-anchored accounts held with microfinance non-government organizations (MF NGOs) and cooperatives.

The CFIS report shows that accounts with MF NGOs fell to 5% from 9% in 2021, with loan incidence down to 6% from 10% previously. The ownership of cooperative accounts also declined to 2% from 5%, with loan incidence down to 1% from 4%.

This outweighed the steady performance of the ownership of e-money accounts which was unchanged at 36%, and traditional bank accounts at 23%.

Women continued to post a higher account ownership than men, a trend seen since 2017, due to the support of microfinance NGOs and the expansion of e-money wallets and bank accounts.

“Beyond gender differences, disparities persist across income, education, and geography. Higher-income, better-educated adults are significantly more likely to own accounts,” the report read.

In terms of households, 85% of the respondents said they own at least one account, higher than 74% in 2024. Growth was also seen across types — e-money accounts at 76% from 63% previously; bank accounts at 49% from 43%; cooperatives at 9% from 8%; and MF NGO at 8% from 6%.

“While account ownership is uneven individual, household-level access is strong… This indicates that many families rely on shared financial access rather than individual ownership,” the report read.

Loans

The same data showed that 25% of Filipino adults had outstanding loans, reflecting a drop from 45% in 2021. Some 16% borrowed from formal lending sources, while 10% went to informal sources such as friends, colleagues, neighbors, and family and relatives.

“Filipinos generally exhibit an aversion to borrowing, as seven in 10 adults perceived that availing any type of loan is not a good idea. Loan usage was concentrated among working-age adults, government workers, and women, who continue to borrow slightly more than men,” the report said.

Personal loans were the most common at 24%, followed by salary loans at 13%, multipurpose loans at 12%, and business loans at 12%.

These loans were used mostly for payment for food and other basic needs (32%), education (15%), health (14%), agriculture (10%), non-agriculture business startups (9%), household bills (9%), and renovation and improvement of housing (8%).

“Most borrowers demonstrated sound repayment behavior, with a majority paying on time or ahead of schedule. However, a sizable minority reported difficulty in repayment,” the report read.

Some 58% said they were able to pay on schedule, 19% paid ahead of the schedule, 14% had no set payment schedule, while 8% were behind the due date.

Majority or 56% of respondents also said they can easily pay off their loans, 34% said they often have difficulty, while 8% said they have to apply for new loans to pay for existing ones.

The survey took into account interviews with 8,784 adult respondents aged 15 years and above across all regions of the Philippines conducted from February 16 to July 25, 2025. —VAL, GMA News