SECRETARIAT officials and employees of the House of Representatives (HRep) were treated to a financial literacy crash course on Wednesday with the conduct of the 2023 Investment Summit Seminar.
Attendees to the seminar learned about how to manage their income properly and the different investment opportunities through savings and investments platforms provided by banks such as Maya Bank, Philippine National Bank (PNB), Gcash and Allianz PNB Life Insurance Inc.
Maya (formerly PayMaya) product manager Mr. Chad Gamasan lamented that while the country is the top in the consumption of social media, only 20% have online financial accounts as of 2019. He said only 31% of Filipinos have savings in the bank, 4% of adults have formal credit transactions and 47% adults borrowed money from family, friends and relatives or the informal form of borrowing. To address the situation, Maya invented digital banking platforms and developed an online payments ecosystem. Mr. Gamasan cited Maya’s 256% growth in 2021 due to the popularity of e-wallets during the pandemic.
GCash head of Legal Pursuance Atty. Jaime Sandino Regalario reported that digitalization in the country has been advancing towards financial inclusion, with 56% of Filipinos now having financial accounts; 51% with access to insurance. He noted that only 2% now have access to investments; and 8% now have access to credit.
Ms.Marianne Joyce Robleza PNB department head for branch sales, Metro Manila Credit and Debit Sales Division gave insights on how to manage credit cards wisely.
Ms.Gale Marquez head of Distribution Learning and Leader Development of Allianz PNB Life Insurance Inc. discussed financial fitness and discipline to be observed in handling income as well as the financial demographics involved in a retirement plan, the emergency fund in case of critical illness and an insurance plan that serves also as an investment.
HRep Finance Department Deputy Secretary General (DSG) Dante Roberto Maling appreciated the summit, telling attendees that there was none during his time. The Investment Summit was organized by the HRep Finance Department.
