Philippine customers trust banks more than government with their data: survey

Around 42% trust banks the most compared to 21% who trust the government.

More Filipino consumers are placing their trust in banks to handle and protect their data than the government, according to a survey from Unisys.

The study notes that 42% of Filipinos identified banks as the organisation they trusted the most with their personal data compared to the 21% and 15% who would entrust their respective data to the government and card networks. “Philippine banks currently enjoy a high level of trust from their customers based on their ability to protect sensitive personal data in their care,” Unisys Asia-Pacific financial services industry director Ian Selbie said in a report.

Filipinos also held banks in the highest regard to protect customer data compared to the five Asia-Pacific countries in the survey which includes Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Taiwan.

Also read: Half of Hong Kong bank users willing to give third-party data access 

This development bodes well for open banking to gain momentum in the Philippines. “As open banking is rolled out across Asia, allowing banks to more easily work with third parties to provide new services to customers, they will need to demonstrate that they are protecting their customer data across all parties involved in the banking service supply chain,” he explained.

A separate report by Finastra ranks the Philippines as the third least ready for open banking in Asia as the country still has low capabilities in internal and external APIs although the country has a high focus on adopting new technologies.