Feidlimid

Nice to see some of the interest rate hikes being passed on to savers at last in the Ph. Whilst most of us try not to retain large amounts of funds here in the Ph, there are occasions when for whatever reason, one has a lump sum of pesos or dollars that would benefit from being in a high interest bearing account. Not forgetting of course that the PDIC (Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation) only provides a maximum deposit insurance coverage of ₱500,000 per depositor per bank.

If you’re shopping around for a decent rate, just be aware that the interest rates promulgated online often don’t reflect the actual rates being offered by the bank. I came across this anomaly the other day and when put to the bank representative, they replied, ‘Sorry Sir, I think it’s because we don’t want our competitors to know what we’re doing’. Nice one! No point in trying to explain that the bank could lose potential investors by not displaying the correct rates, which are substantially higher.

Example this week for Peso TD’s, range between ₱100-300K:
Bank’s interest rates for 3 months term displayed online - 2.03%. Actual rate at bank: 3.54%
Bank’s interest rates for 6 months term displayed online - 2.21%. Actual rate at bank: 4.23%

The US$ TD’s had a similar anomaly, range between $10-50K:
Bank’s interest rates for 3 months term displayed online - 2.10%. Actual rate at bank: 3.60%
Bank’s interest rates for 6 months term displayed online - 2.15%. Actual rate at bank: 3.90%

Raffin

Just had a quick look online at two of the largest bank's TDs. One had no interest rates and the other listed 0.5% a year on P20M and above! Poor web site maintenance, a general issue here, and they're still heavily into branches. That's where they expect you to find out. All reflecting a lack of competition between the large banks as there is between large companies in other sectors here.