High-Interest Savings Accounts In the Philippines
Saving money alone is not going to make you rich. While it’s indeed a good financial habit necessary to build wealth, limiting your financial practice to this isn’t enough.
The key to efficiently build wealth is to make money a vehicle to make more money. Besides, your savings won’t be able to combat inflation in the long run if you just keep it stagnant. Your ₱100,000 now may not be as valuable in 10 years.
The least that you can do with your savings is to keep it moving enough to keep up with inflation. And, that’s something that you cannot do with a regular savings account.
Fortunately, there are financial products now that can grow your savings better than the usual savings account. It doesn’t yield as much as an actual investment vehicle, but it’s good enough to at least keep up with the relentless inflation.
Security Bank eSecure Savings Account
This savings account from Security Bank offers tiered interest rates. The bigger amount you stash in your savings, the higher interest you’ll yield. To earn at least a 1% interest rate, you must have maintained a savings account balance of ₱100,000. If you’re gunning for their highest tier (1.2%), the minimum amount in your account should be at least ₱1 million.
Initial deposit: ₱500
Balance to earn interest: ₱5,000
| Tier | Interest Rates* (p.a.) |
| ₱5,000 - ₱49,999 | 0.500% |
| ₱50,000 - ₱99,999 | 1.000% |
| ₱100,000 - ₱999,999 | 1.100% |
| ₱1M- ₱4.999M | 1.200% |
| ₱5M and UP | 1.200% |
Though the amount you need to reach is ₱5,000 in order to start earning interest from your money, you can at least kickstart your savings goals with only ₱500
You’re only allowed to have one withdrawal per month. Otherwise, the interest rates for your savings will drop to 0.10%.
BDO Optimum Savings Account
This is a savings account offering from BDO Unibank Inc. that gives their savers a better interest rate for saving money with them.
This type of savings account however demands a higher initial deposit and it comes with different fees that you may need to look into. The interest rate is also the same regardless of the amount (as long as you reach the initial amount requirement) – whether this is a good thing or not depends on your financial goals.
The account also allows withdrawal up to three times a month free of charge.
| Personal | Business | |
| Interest rate | 1.25% | 1.25% |
| Minimum Initial Deposit | ₱30,000.00 | ₱50,000.00 |
| Minimum Monthly Average Daily Balance (MABD) Requirement | ₱30,000.00 | ₱50,000.00 |
| Minimum Balance to Earn Interest | ₱30,000.00 | ₱50,000.00 |
| Fees and charges | Personal | Business |
| Account Closure | ₱300.00 | ₱300.00 |
| Falling Below Minimum Balance | ₱300.00 | ₱300.00 |
| Account Dormancy (4) | ₱30.00 (4) | ₱30.00 (4) |
| Withholding Tax for Interest Earned | 20% | 20% |
| In excess of 3 client-initiated withdrawal/debit transaction per month (per excess transaction) | ₱110.00 | ₱110.00 |
- First, three withdrawals in a month are free of charge.
- They have an option for a business account.
- The initial deposit is quite steep.
- The amount required to start earning interest is also quite high (same as the initial deposit).
- You’ll be fined if your balance goes below the minimum deposit amount.
CITIBANK Peso Bonus Saver Account
This interest yielding deposit account from Citibank encourages savers to even save more. The Citibank Peso Bonus Saver Account grants bonus interest on top of the base interest when savers put in more savings each month.
It offers a base interest rate of 0.70% gross p.a. Your account will be entitled to bonus interest if its average balance grows by at least ₱20,000 month on month. The rate caps at 1.66% gross p.a. after 12 consecutive months of growing your average balance.
Additionally, you’re able to withdraw your money free of charge and unlimited times.
| Initial deposit | ₱50,000 |
| Balance to earn interest | ₱50,000 |
| Amount of increase required to earn bonus interest | At least ₱20,000 per month. |
| Base interest rate | 0.70% p.a. |
| Bonus interest rate | 0.08% |
| Maximum interest rate | 1.66% p.a. |
- Unlimited free withdrawals.
- It makes saving money more rewarding.
- Steep amount to open an account and start enjoying the high-interest rate.
The interest scheme is quite complex. For full disclosure of the Citibank Peso Bonus Saver Account, learn more about it from Citibank’s page.
CIMB Bank UpSave
CIMB Bank UpSave account is a high-interest savings account from CIMB. You can open an account online, anytime and anywhere without the need to go to a branch. After you register online, you immediately gain access to your savings account and enjoy one of the highest interest rates in the market.
You can earn 3.1% per year and the interest is credited to the account every month. In addition, you will be entitled to free life insurance equal to 1x of your average daily balance for the past three months, or 1x the last recorded balance before the death date.
| Initial deposit | Any amount |
| Balance to earn interest | Any amount |
| Interest rate | 3.0% p.a. |
- Highest interest rate in the market.
- No minimum amount required.
- Opening an account is fast and easy.
- You get a free life-insurance if you maintain ₱100,000 for a month.
- Deposits can be done through unconventional means like a Bayad Center, 7-11, DragonPay and etc.
- No physical branch.
- Money withdrawal will be directed through a different bank or channel due to the unavailability of a physical card.
CIMB Bank GSave
A savings account with a 3.1% p.a. interest and can be managed through GCash. Other than the ease to apply for this account, you only need to be a verified GCash user to be qualified.
This savings account though is only valid for a year and the maximum amount you can save is only ₱100,000. However, you can download the CIMB Bank app and link your GSave account to it should you want to keep the account and save more money.
| Initial deposit | Any amount |
| Balance to earn interest | Any amount |
| Interest rate | 3.1% p.a. |
- The highest interest rate in the market.
- No minimum amount required.
- Opening an account is fast and easy.
- You get free life insurance.
- Managing the account can be done through Gcash, which includes deposits and withdrawals.
- No physical branch.
- Low maximum amount limit.
- Only valid for 1 year.
Are these high-interest savings account also PDIC insured?
The Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) protects the depositors’ money from any crisis that may hit banks in the Philippines. They cover up to half a million pesos worth of deposits and sees to it that the depositors get their money back. The PDIC is what keeps saving money in the bank safe in the country, so you an assured that your money is in good hands.
These high-interest savings accounts are covered by PDIC because it falls under the accounts they defined to be insured by them: savings, special savings, demand/checking, negotiable order of withdrawal, negotiable/non-negotiable certificate of time deposits.
To sum it all up, these are the 5 highest yielding savings account options in the Philippines today.
Each one of them has features that may be suited for different individuals, but for sure they’ll accrue more interest for your money compared to others in the market with minimal to no effort at all.
Make sure you evaluate which account suits your current financial standing best to reap the most out of these accounts and achieve your financial goals easier.
| Savings account name | Annual interest rate |
| BPI Family Savings Bank Advance Savings Account with Passbook | 1.00% |
| Security Bank eSecure Savings Account | 1.20% |
| BDO Optimum Savings Account | 1.25% |
| Citibank Peso Bonus Saver Account | 1.56% |
| UpSave by CIMB | 3.0% |
| GSave by CIMB | 3.1% |
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