THE Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) is ramping up its investments in technology by alloting 50 percent of its capital expenditure particularly for cybersecurity.
“I think for 2022, our budget for digital spending or technology is about 50 percent higher than that of 2021. A lot of that is going into cybersecurity,” BPI president and chief executive officer Jose Teodoro Limcaoco said in a virtual media briefing.
Limcaoco said the bank will continue to reinvent banking to better serve its evolving clients.
Digitalization, customer obsession and sustainability remain to be our focus as we move forward to a post-pandemic environment,” Limcaoco said.
BPI spent nearly P9 billion or about nine percent of total revenue in 2021 on technology, including new digital initiatives such as building and improving customer engagement platforms and onboarding new partners in its open banking business.
In October 2021, it announced plans to acquire and engage clients through seven customer engagement platforms, each specifically designed to fulfill the banking needs of a particular segment.
5 platforms
Five platforms—BPI Online, BPI Mobile, BPI Trade, BizLink, and BanKo app—are already available today, with two more slated for release this year.
BPI’s ongoing digitalization journey continues to reinvent the customer interaction and experience.
As of 2021, 4.9 million of its 8.46 million client base were enrolled in digital channels. Of the number, 3.24 million were active, up 20 percent from the previous year.
BPI also has a growing list of over 80 API partners covering nearly 800 products and services, with over 100 million transactions in 2021, a 75 percent growth from the previous year.
“In 2021, we accelerated our goal to transform our bank for the future while executing and growing through the pandemic,” Limcaoco said.
