BANK of the Philippine Islands (BPI) has launched a new time deposit product called Green Saver that offers a fixed rate and tax-free interest earnings.
BPI Vice-President and Head for Deposit Products Ma. Carmina T. Marquez at a media briefing on Tuesday said that Green Saver is a sustainable time deposit product with indicative interest rates ranging from 4% to 4.5% annually.
The deposit product will have a fixed term of five years and interest earnings will be tax-free. The minimum placement amount is at P5,000, lower than the at least P50,000 required for BPI’s regular time deposit accounts.
“Investments in the BPI Green Saver Time Deposit will be allocated to finance or refinance a portfolio of green projects that need thorough and careful environmental eligibility criteria projects involving energy efficiency, renewable energy, including climate resilience and sustainable culture,” Ms. Marquez said. “It’s really being able to save for a sustainable future to support green projects under the BPI Sustainable Funding Framework.”
“It offers fixed high interest rates to protect you from any rate volatility or any market volatility. The choice of when you want to withdraw your interest varies. You can earn interest and interest can be credited monthly to a settlement account or be paid at the end of the five-year term,” she added.
The bank said the deposits will be used to fund projects vetted by technical consultants trained and accredited by the International Finance Corp.
BPI is looking to attract about two million clients to invest in the product, Ms. Marquez said.
“If you would look at P5,000 per client to reach the P10 billion, that’s about maybe two million clients. But since we have the other higher deposit amounts, I think we’ll be able to reach the P10 billion target even with just fewer clients,” she said.
BPI posted higher net earnings in the third quarter as its net interest and non-interest incomes increased alongside an expansion in its customer base to over nine million.
The Ayala-led lender said it booked a P10.1-billion net income in the July-to-August period, up 26.8% from a year prior. This brought the bank’s bottom line for the first nine months to P30.5 billion.
BPI shares rose by 0.10% or 10 centavos to close at P97.8 apiece on Tuesday. — K.B. Ta-asan
