OPENING a Personal Equity and Retirement Account (PERA) has been made easier under a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) program launched last year.
In a statement on Thursday, the central bank that customers of G-Xchange Inc., the operator of GCash, as well as clients of Union Bank of the Philippines, Philippine National Bank, and Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. would now be able to open PERAs online if they selected Atram Trust Corp. as their PERA administrator.
G-Xchange, UnionBank, PNB and RCBC were among the companies said to have joined the Open Finance for PERA initiative that the BSP launched in July last year.
Atram, meanwhile, was one of three named as PERA administrators.
The Open Finance for PERA Pilot is designed to make it easier for Filipinos to access retirement savings products by allowing financial institutions to securely share customer information with the user’s consent.
Through the project, participating financial institutions will be able to share customer information with Atram. This removes the need for manual forms and separate identity verification processes that were previously required.
Customers only need to register through Atram’s online platform to open an account. Clients of Union Bank can also access the service directly through the bank’s mobile application, which now allows users to open an account through Atram.
“The BSP continues to work with financial institutions to further expand the network and ensure that a seamless and secure retirement planning ecosystem is within reach of every Filipino,” the central bank said.
PERA is a voluntary retirement savings program that provides tax incentives to encourage Filipinos and their employers to set aside funds for long-term financial security.
It serves as a supplemental retirement vehicle alongside pension benefits provided by the Social Security System and the Government Service Insurance System, as well as other private savings and investment instruments.
PERA contributions climbed to P491.4 million in 2024, up 24 percent from P396.3 million a year earlier, as more Filipinos joined the voluntary savings program. The number of contributors also increased by 6.4 percent to 5,912 from 5,555.
Employed workers accounted for the largest share, contributing P341.7 million from about 4,211 participants. Overseas Filipinos followed with P82.25 million from 789 contributors, while 912 self-employed individuals invested a combined P67.39 million.
