Best Bank in the Philippines for Savings

The best bank in the Philippines for savings is a well-established bank that offers the biggest interest rate for savings accounts and has excellent online banking and mobile app.

It also helps if it has a branch near where you live or work, has many remittance partners abroad and offers free insurance.

Contents:
. Banks giving the highest interest rates for savings
. Banks offering savings accounts with free life insurance
. Most popular banks based on mobile app downloads
. Most popular banks based on Google search
. Best bank in the Philippines for savings, based on my experiences

Banks giving the highest interest rates for savings

Currently, digital banks and digital accounts are promoting their brands so they’re giving much higher interest rates, compared to the 0.10% or 0.125% rate given by most banks. They also don’t require higher balances before giving interests.

• ING Bank — 4%
• Tonik — 4% (You can open up to 5 separate savings stashes or containers; 6% for time deposit)
• DiskarTech by RCBC — 3.25% (DiskarTech is a basic savings account, so you can save only up to 50,000)
• GSave of GCash and CIMB — 2.6% to 4%, interest paid out monthly
  GSave is offered by CIMB in partnership with GCash)
• UpSave by CIMB — 2.5% to 4%, with free life insurance if conditions are fulfilled
• Komo by Eastwest Bank — 2.5%
• CardBank and Card MRI offer 1.5%
• Cebuana Rural Bank offers 0.30%.
• Check out Rural Banks or Cooperative Banks near you. They offer fairly higher interest rates.

* As of October 2, 2021
* Some of the newer apps are experiencing glitches. It will be good to follow their Facebook pages or join their Facebook groups so you can see what others have done to solve similar concerns.

Banks Offering Savings Accounts with Free Life Insurance:

BPI (Bank of the Philippine Islands) and BPI Family

BPI Pamana Savings Account / BPI Family Pamana Savings Account

• Available in peso or US dollar
• Offered with passbook only, or with debit card only

• US dollar account is offered only as a passbook account
• For BPI Family peso debit card, maintaining balance is 5,000 pesos.
• Minimum average daily balance per month to earn interest is 10,000 pesos.
• For BPI Family passbook account, maintaining balance is 50,000 pesos.
• For BPI Family US dollar passbook account, maintaining balance is $1,000.
• For BPI peso debit card, maintaining balance is 25,000 pesos.
• For BPI passbook account, maintaining balance is 75,000 pesos.
• For BPI US dollar passbook account, maintaining balance is $1,000.
•  Free Life Insurance
  • No premium payment
  • Insurance coverage from BPI-Philam Life Assurance Corp. worth
    3x the average account balance of the past three calendar months
    prior to the depositor’s death, up to 2 million pesos or US$40,000
  • Coverage maximum is per account owner, regardless of number of accounts opened
  • No medical check-ups required
  • Only one year contestability period
  • Insurance takes effect on the day of account opening
  • Offered to you if you’re a Pamana depositor aged 15 to 60 years old
  • See more information on this BPI Pamana savings account.

BDO (BDO Unibank)

Kabayan Savings Account Enrolled in Free Life Insurance

• Available to you if you own a BDO Kabayan Savings account and you are a remitter, or a remitter’s spouse, child, parent or sibling
• Remitters should be at least 18, up to 65 years old, and currently employed.
• BDO Kabayan Savings account must be enrolled in Free Life and Accident Insurance.
• Free Life and Accident Insurance information:
  • At least 6 remittance transactions within the past 12 months
  • Average daily balance of at least 25,000 pesos in the past 12 months
  • Insurance amount is equal to 50% of Average Daily Balance
    plus 50% of total remittance in the past 12 months, up to 1 million pesos per remitter.
  • Maximum benefit amount of 1 million pesos for natural death
    and up to 2 million pesos for accidental death
  • The insurance is given in the Philippines.
  • The insurance is underwritten by General Pilipinas Life Assurance Co. and not guaranteed by BDO.

– See more information on this BDO Kabayan savings account.

SECURITY BANK

Security Bank All Access Savings and Checking Account in One

• Account comes with a passbook, checkbook and a Mastercard debit/atm card
• Maintaining balance is 25,000 pesos
• Minimum balance to earn interest is 100,000 pesos
• Free Life Insurance information:
  • Insurance coverage is a Free Group Life Insurance and Group Accidental Death Benefit
  • Account owner must be between 18 to 60 years old
  • Account owner has no adverse health reports
  • For those aged 18 to 50 years old, insurance amount is 3x the year-to-date Average Daily Balance for the past 3 months prior to the account owner’s death
  • For ages 51 to 60 years old, insurance amount is equal to the year-to-date Average Daily Balance for the past 3 months prior the account owner’s death
  • Maximum insurance coverage is 3 million pesos, regardless of number of accounts owned.
  • Group Insurance Policy is a Master Policy entered into by Security Bank Corp. with FWD Life Insurance Corp.
  • You must accomplish the insurance enrolment form when you open your AllAccess account.
  • Insurance takes effect on date of enrolment in the Master Policy.
  • For joint accounts, only the primary account owner can enroll for coverage.
  • Deadline for claiming insurance: The beneficiary must notify Security Bank and submit the required documents to FWD Life Insurance Corp. within 90 days from the date of Insured’s death.
  • See more information on this Security Bank’s savings and checking account 

25 Most Popular Philippine Banks on Mobile, Based on App Downloads from Google Play, as of August 12, 2021

	Bank	No. of App Downloads from Google Play	No. of Reviews on Google Play	Star Rating
1	Union Bank	5M+	30k	4.2
2	BDO	5M+	53k	2.5
3	CIMB	1M+	51k	4.4
4	ING	1M+	16k	4.4
5	BPI	1M+	45k	4.1
6	Metrobank	1M+	114k	3.9
7	Landbank	1M+	28k	3.9
8	DiskarTech	1M+	10k	3.4
9	Security Bank	1M+	7k	2.7
10	Citibank	500k+	15k	4.1
11	Card Bank	500k+	11k	3.9
12	RCBC	500k+	7k	3.3
13	Cebuana	500k+	8k	2.9
14	Eastwest	500k+	3k	2.3
15	Robinsons	100k+	853	4.1
16	UCPB	100k+	3k	3.9
17	AUB	100k+	1k	3.9
18	Card MRI RBI	100k+	989	3.6
19	PSBank	100k+	3k	3.5
20	Card SME	100k+	2k	3.5
21	Maybank Ph	100k+	2k	3.4
22	China Bank	100k+	4k	3.3
23	PNB	100k+	6k	3.2
24	CBS	100k+	1k	2.0
25	OFBank	50k+	710	3.8
26	Tonik	50k+	1k	3.8
27	Komo	50k+	909	3.6
28	BankCom	50k+	333	3.2
29	BPI Banko	50k+	360	3.1

*Ranking based on no. of downloads first, then no. of stars, then no. of reviews

*HSBC has 5 million plus downloads, but its app serves several countries.

Most Popular Philippine Banks, Based on Number of Google Searches per Month

This ranking below is not accurate because there are other banks of the same acronyms or names in other countries. But it could give us a bit of an idea about these Philippine banks’ popularity on mobile.

1. BDO — 1.22 Million searches
   • BDO Unibank — 33,100 searches
   • Bdo Bank — 9,900
2. BPI — 1.22 M
   • Bank of the Philippine Islands — 40,500
   • BPI Banko — 1,900
3. PNB — 1 M
   • Philippine National Bank — 27,100
4. Union Bank — 1 M
5. Metrobank — 673k
6. Security Bank — 301k
7. Eastwest Bank — 246k
   • Eastwest — 110k
8. Robinsons — 246k
   • Robinsons Bank — 33,100
9. Komo — 246k
10. Landbank — 201k
11. AUB — 135k
12. RCBC — 90,500
13. UCPB — 90,500
14. China Bank — 60,500
15. Bank of Commerce — 60,500
16. PSbank — 49,500
17. Tonik — 49,500
18. Cebuana — 40,500
    • Cebuana Bank — 480
19. Diskartech — 33,100
20. Asia United Bank — 22,200
21. China Bank Savings — 14,800
22. PBCom — 12,100
23. CardBank — 5,400
24. ING Philippines — 5,400
25. OFBank — 2,400
    • Overseas Filipino Bank — 1,300
26. Eastwest Rural Bank — 2,400
27. CardMRI — 1,600

These banks below have millions of Google searches because they are global brands:

• Citibank — 47M
• ING Bank — 7M
  • ING — 6.12M
• Maybank — 1.83M
• CIMB — 1.22M
  • CIMB Bank — 246k

Best bank in the Philippines for savings, based on my experiences

I have accounts in several banks to serve my different purposes. Based on my personal experiences, the best bank for an atm savings account is BDO. Next are BPI. Metrobank, Eastwest and Landbank/OFBank. I’m sure you have other banks as your BEST and you also have your own reasons.

Why BDO?

• There’s a BDO branch and 4 BDO ATMs near our house and I can easily find one everywhere I go. There are more than 1,400 branches and more than 4,400 ATMs around the Philippines, as of today.
• There are many BDO branches that are open on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. Super convenient whenever I need to claim a remittance or payment asap.
• BDO allows releases in US dollars of US dollar remittances sent through Xoom. I can get US dollars over the counter. I can also have the US dollar remittance sent directly to my BDO US dollar account. Other bank partners convert US dollar remittances to peso deposits. Siempre pag kino-convert ng bank, they use their rate na malayong mababa kesa sa rate used by popular money changers. The other bank that allows US dollar release over the counter is Metrobank.
• BDO’s maximum atm withdrawal amount per day is flexible. I-set mo ng mababa o mataas depende sa sitwasyon. You can go to your mobile Security Management feature and set your limits.
• At the BDO bank branches that I’ve gone to, there’s someone checking the flow of customers from time to time. Either yong guard or bank officer. Bakit mahaba ang pila? Meron bang transaction na mas mabilis sa ATM na lang? Bakit merong nakatayong tao don na matagal na?
• The BDO mobile app has an OTP Generator. Much better than waiting for the BDO-texted OTP.
• I was able to open a US dollar account with only $100. This is a Kabayan US dollar account and it’s only available for those with recent receipts showing US dollar remittances from relatives abroad.
• BDO, of course, has other good products, like BDO Kabayan peso account, BDO Credit Cards’ EasyPay Cash Out short-term loan and BDO Rewards. It’s also the biggest bank in the Philippines based on assets, deposits, and capital, but it’s the first 6 reasons above why I say BDO is the best bank in the Philippines to open a savings account.

Why BPI?

• Sentimental reasons. Parang first love. It’s my first payroll ATM savings account. Yong US-based employer namin chose BPI because at that time, it was only BPI that was issuing ATM debit cards and installing ATM machines. It’s also the first one to launch debit card swiping in supermarkets via its Express Teller system and also the first one to accept cash deposits via ATM machines.
• To long-time BPI credit cardholders, even those of zero-annual-fee cardholders, BPI offers short-term loans with much lower interest rates compared to other banks’ credit cards. I’ve used their loans to buy second-hand cars and avoided high interest rates offered by banks and the costly loan processing and chattel mortgage fees.
• BPI also has lots of ATMs and branches, with more than 1,176 branches in the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Europe, and close to 3,000 ATMs and Cash Accept Machines.

Why Metrobank?

• Metrobank’s zero-annual-fee credit card also offers short-term loans with lower interest rates to long-time cardholders.
• Lots of ATMs too. Metrobank runs 960 branches, more than 2,300 ATMs, over 180 Cash Accept machines and more than 30 branches overseas.

Why Eastwest Bank?

• Eastwest Bank has at least 18 branches in the Muntinlupa-Bacoor-Las Pinas-San Pedro area where we live. It also has a branch near my sister’s house in Fairview. Most of these branches also have good parking.
• Among banks, Eastwest Bank gives the highest exchange rate for US dollars. Oftentimes it’s higher than those used by popular money changers like Sanry’s or Czarina. My online work is paid in US dollars, so I’m always looking for money changers or banks giving the best foreign exchange rates. I hope Eastwest maintains their higher level of US dollar exchange rates forever.
• 5 pesos only for Instapay transfer! And has been FREE since the start of the pandemic until September 2021. Might be extended too.
• Transactions are updated instantly on Eastwest’s online banking. Some of the biggest banks do not do this. You wait for the following day.

Why Landbank and OFBank?

• Landbank is among the best bank for people receiving SSS benefits, as it has special relationship with SSS. The only not-good-thing for me is that it has only a few ATMs in our area. I remedy this though by just transferring money online from Landbank to BDO or BPI, both with lots of ATMs.
• I’m so glad about how Landbank is growing OFBank, which is becoming very popular among OFWs. Overseas Filipinos can open an OFBank account, make transfers and check their balances while abroad. There’s a big OFBank Facebook group named Overseas Filipino Bank (OFBank) – Depositor’s Group in which members are praising OFBank and sharing helpful info.

Related Article: Digital Banks in the Philippines 

In the provinces, your best bank in the Philippines for savings can also be a well-established rural bank near where you live or work. Most rural banks offer interest rates higher than those offered by commercial banks.

See the top rural banks in the Philippines.