BSP targets to attract 5 million PERA investors in 5 years

MANILA, Philippines — The government is targeting to attract five million Filipinos to invest in the Personal Equity and Retirement Account (PERA) within five years following the digitalization of this voluntary retirement account, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

During the virtual launching of the digital version of the PERA, BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno said the initiative seeks to encourage more people to plan and save for their future retirement.

“The target seems ambitious. But with more than 40 million locally employed Filipinos prior to the pandemic and around 2.2 million overseas Filipino workers, I am optimistic that this goal is easily attainable,” Diokno said.

“While the pandemic rendered many Filipinos jobless, we nevertheless expect the Philippine economy to bounce back and create more job opportunities for displaced workers,” he said.

Created under Republic Act 9505, PERA is a voluntary retirement account that provides an organizing framework to help Filipinos 18 years old and above prepare for their eventual retirement.

It provides Filipinos a tax-exempt facility to supplement their future pension benefits from the Social Security System (SSS), the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), and from their own employers.

Despite being launched in December 2016, Diokno said that PERA is currently “underutilized,” with only 1,586 Filipinos investing in PERA accounts and total contributions of P137 million as of July 29, 2020.

To make this more accessible to Filipinos, Diokno said the BSP, together with other regulatory agencies and stakeholders, has worked on the digital version of the account.

“Leveraging on digital technology, we revolutionized the PERA investment process by creating a one-stop shop digital experience for investor education, client on-boarding, settlement of transactions, and monitoring of PERA investments. With this platform, Filipinos can now conveniently open or access their PERA account and invest 24/7, anywhere in the world using a mobile gadget,” he said.

Diokno said the platform enables PERA contributors to send funds via InstaPay and other digital means, making the cost of online transactions relatively cheaper.

It also promotes integration and interoperability by connecting various PERA market participants and products to facilitate the processing of transactions.

“Consequently, this could then easily expand the PERA ecosystem and provide opportunity for more banks and other financial institutions to join the PERA ecosystem as product providers or even as administrators,” he said.