The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) said during a briefing on Friday, Aug. 12, that majority of the transactions conducted by its customers are now done online or in mobile phones.
The shift occurred as a result of the changing customer preference for convenience offered by its online platforms as well as the restrictions brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, bank officials said during the first of the #BPITechTalk monthly media roundtable.
BPI said that of the more than nine million clients as of June 2022, 5.2 million were enrolled in digital platforms. Of those, 3.5 million were active clients, up from 3.2 million by end of 2021, which in turn was 20% more than the year before.
This has also prompted the Ayala-owned lender to introduce new features to its online and mobile banking offerings and fortify its cybersecurity efforts make the platforms secure.
“BPI’s Digital Banking is best in its class,” said Fitzgerald Chee, BPI consumer platforms business lead. “Its intuitive features are built for convenience, ease and security. Customer experience is at the forefront as BPI continues to develop Digital Banking functionalities which make both the online and mobile banking app highly responsive to customers’ needs.”
BPI said it continues to invest heavily in technology, including cybersecurity, to ensure that the bank can provide safe, convenient, and secure digital financial services,
In his presentation, BPI enterprise information security officer and data protection officer Jonathan John Paz, gave a glimpse of how technologically secure BPI Online and Mobile are and how the platforms are empowering its users to manage their online security.
“We follow a secure mobile app development regime to build a robust BPI Mobile app,” Paz said. “We keep abreast of the developments in the digitalization front and the evolving threat landscape. We continue to invest heavily in technology, especially in cybersecurity, to ensure we are able to deliver superior user experience, securely.”
He shared an overview of the industry and digitalization trends, including drivers for a mobile-first strategy, threats to mobile banking, and the threat forecast for 2022.
#BPITechTalk is a one-hour, monthly media roundtable series where updates on the bank’s tech initiatives and capabilities are presented by top BPI executives. It aims to provide a holistic view of the bank’s digitalization journey.
BPI has long been a leader in digitalization in the Philippines, setting the standard in online banking with BPI Express Online and brought over banking services on desktops to smartphones. It introduced the Mobile Wallet in 2012 for the country’s first bank-initiated contactless payment system.
It embarked on a digital transformation in 2016 through BPI Digital 1.0, where it established a technology foundation for digital aspirations. It set up a 24/7 cyber security operations center, upgraded core banking systems, and rebuilt digital infrastructure, including delayering of architecture.
