More young Filipinos are opening bank accounts earlier as access widens across households

Teen account ownership hits 34% and borrowing drops to 25%, while 85% of households now have at least one account.

More young Filipinos are opening bank accounts earlier, and this is becoming more visible in everyday financial behavior.

Thirty-four percent of Filipinos aged 15 to 19 now have bank accounts in 2025, up from 27% in 2021, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). That’s roughly three in 10 teens now entering the formal financial system while still in school, supported by digital wallets, easier onboarding, and wider access to online financial tools.

Women are also slightly ahead in access, with 25% now banked compared with 22% for men. The gap is small, but it reflects how financial management often sits within households, especially in daily budgeting and small business cash flow decisions.

A credit market cleanup

Borrowing has eased significantly to 25% of adults in 2025, down from 45% in 2021. More Filipinos are now borrowing through regulated lenders rather than informal sources, reducing exposure to high-risk debt while also pointing to tighter household spending conditions. At the same time, this shift suggests growing trust in formal financial institutions, even as overall demand for credit softens.

Digital finance continues to expand, with 62% of households now doing financial transactions online, up from 53% the year before. Alongside this, 78% of Filipinos say they avoid sharing personal information online, while 64% check if financial institutions are regulated before transacting, reflecting stronger awareness of digital risks.

Still, individual account ownership slipped to 50%, down from 56% in 2021, even as 85% of households now report having at least one account, based on BSP data. This suggests that while access is widening, it is often shared within families rather than individually held, particularly as fewer accounts are tied to loans from microfinance institutions and cooperatives.

The latest Consumer Finance and Inclusion Survey, which consolidates two long-running BSP studies, underscores how financial inclusion in the Philippines is evolving, not just through access, but through changing behavior, from how Filipinos borrow to how they manage and protect their money.