Online Banking – How Useful Is It?

Data published by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas shows that as on June 2016 there were a total of 121 banks (including 35 universal / commercial banks, 34 thrift banks and 52 rural and cooperative banks) that offered electronic banking facilities like Internet and mobile banking.

What is online banking?

To put it simply, online banking refers to the conduct of banking through electronic banking channels – this is an umbrella term for Internet banking, mobile banking, phone banking, banking through mobile apps etc.

How useful is online banking?

Let us look at what is possible through online or electronic banking through a couple of real-life examples:

 ▪ The Philippine National Bank offers a bouquet of eBanking Services including Internet banking, phone banking, SMS banking and ATM banking.  

PNB's Internet Banking allows you to:

▫ Monitor your account balances and transactions 

▫ Transfer funds 

▫ Pay bills 

▫ Open accounts 

▫ Schedule payments and fund transfers and program recurring transactions 

▫ Order checkbooks 

▫ View, download and print transaction history online 

▫ Get notifications via emails or text messages regarding your transactions. 

▪ Citibank offers a plethora of online banking services including Internet banking, banking via mobile app and banking via mobile browser. Highlights include: 

▫ Tracking and managing your accounts 

▫ Making bill payments online – either by having bills charged to your credit card or debited against your bank account. 

▫ Transferring funds – either locally between your Citibank accounts or to other bank accounts or globally to your Citibank accounts across the world or to another bank. 

▫ Requesting call backs from the bank through the Call Me Back Service. 

▫ Managing all your Citibank accounts worldwide through a single platform when you log on to your Citibank Philippines account. 

▫ Ordering Peso / Dollar checkbooks. 

▫ Viewing interest rates and foreign exchange rates. 

▫ Changing ATM Pins. 

▫ Open Time Deposits. 

▫ Opening a Checking or a Savings Account. 

▫ Nicknaming your accounts for easier identification while operating. 

▫ Converting single-receipt credit card purchases of Php 5,000 or more into installment payments via Citi Paylite. 

▫ Redeeming Citibank Rewards points for gifts or mileage. 

▫ Monitoring credit card usage through category-wise graphs. 

▫ Applying for a credit card or for supplementary credit cards. 

▫ Changing credit card cash advance PIN. 

The above will give you a fair idea of what you can expect to do through online banking. But, keep in mind the specific array of services that are available through online banking will differ from bank to bank.

 

Easy steps to open a bank account in the Philippines

In this edition, we will take a fresh new look at a staple of banking – we will examine how one can go about opening a bank account – whether a savings account or a current/checking account. We will do this by looking at the account opening processes used by a few banks:

Account Opening – UnionBank

UnionBank has a simple account opening process. This involves:

▪ Presenting at least one valid ID – This could be a Passport, a Seaman's book, Driver's license, NBI clearance etc. The ID should not have expired and must include your photo. Sole Proprietorships, Resident Foreigners or Aliens need to present other acceptable forms of ID.

▪ Visiting the branch to complete the account opening form and signing on the signature cards.

Account Opening – Security Bank

Security Bank offers customers a couple of options when opening their accounts. The first option involves filling out an easy online account opening form, collecting the reference number sent via SMS to your mobile and presenting yourself to the bank with one primary ID or two secondary IDs along with the given reference number; the branch personnel will help you complete the account opening process.

The second option, “Switch” involves the bank visiting you! In this process, someone from your preferred branch will visit you and help you with the account opening process. The bank representative can be verified through the unique reference number sent to you by the bank, by their ID or by calling up and confirming with the branch.

▪ HSBC and Citibank follow similar account opening processes – you will need to fill out an online form and someone from the bank will contact you to take the process forward.

Requirements and norms to be fulfilled

There are a plethora of savings and current account products available. It is important to understand that these products will have varying opening and maintenance balances. Let's look at a couple of examples:

The UnionBank Regular Savings Account requires an initial deposit of P30,000, a minimum ADB (Annual Deposit Balance) requirement of P30,000 and a minimum ADB of P50,000 to earn interest. For the UnionBank Dollar Access account, the initial deposit is US$1,000, the minimum ADB requirement is US$10,000 and the ADB to earn interest is US$25,000.

The Citi Bonus Saver Account requires a minimum opening balance of P50,000 subject to Total Relationship Balance (TRB) of P100,000 per month. This account pays a base bank interest rate of 0.70% p.a. and bonus interest if your account grows month-on-month by at least P5,000; you can earn as much as 1.90% gross p.a. after 12 consecutive months of growing your average balance.