MANILA – ING Bank will offer higher interest rates for savings on its “all-digital” platform to encourage more Filipinos to save, its country manager said Tuesday, marking its foray into the consumer business.

Starting June 1, ING Bank Philippines will offer 2.5 percent interest for savings on its mobile app which was introduced in November last year, country manager Hans Sicat said.

"The Philippine economy is a growing economy... It sets a strong foundation for saving in the Philippines as disposable income grows," Sicat said.

There is no maintaining balance, no lock-in period and no minimum amount to earn interest with ING’s individual savings accounts.

Sign-ups are fully electronic and can be done with a mobile phone using just one identification card, facial recognition and random gesture test instead of selfies for enhanced security, chief information officer Ben Issa said.

“We want to make sure you’re alive and we want to make sure it’s you,” he said.

Aside from bank to bank transfers using InstaPay and PesoNet under the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas' National Retail Payment System, consumers can also deposit checks issued by a local bank by just taking a photo, said ING Philippines head of Retail Mohamed Keraine.

Innovations, convenience and accessibility make the digital bank "attractive" to technology-savvy Filipinos, Keraine said.

Filipinos were among the world’s top social media users in January 2019. Almost half of the population also use the internet.

Keraine said going digital allows them to cover a larger customer base compared to having brick-and-mortar branches.

"We want to be where our customers are and our customers are on mobile,” Keraine said.

An all-digital platform that uses facial recognition KYC (know your customer) process “raised the bar” in financial services, BSP deputy governor Chuchi Fonacier said during the event.

Launching the platform is both “timely and relevant” to achieve the BSP’s goal of reaching 20 percent adoption of cashless electronic retail payment system by 2020 from 1 percent in 2013, Fonacier said.

The bank is also “working hard” to offer bills payment on the platform by the end of the year, Keraine said.

Malaysia’s CIMB also launched a mobile platform in the country last March.

• Malaysia’s CIMB launches ‘all-mobile’ bank in Philippines