OVERSEAS FILIPINO Bank (OFBank) saw the number of new deposit accounts opened through its online platform more than double to 45,535 at the end of July, a year since its launch as the first state-run digital lender, the Department of Finance (DoF) said on Monday.

The DoF said in a press release that new accounts opened through the OFBank’s Digital On-Boarding System with Artificial Intelligence (DOBSAI) surged by 129% from 19,887 as of December 2020, citing a report from the Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK), the parent company of OFBank.

The DOBSAI platform allows clients to open mobile banking deposit accounts in real time. They can use their accounts for deposits, fund transfers, bill payments and for buying government bonds.

OFBank is present in 113 countries and territories, with 763 partner merchants available in its mobile application via the LinkBiz.Portal.

Vendors currently available in the app are 277 government agencies and local government units, 186 schools, 140 cooperatives, associations, foundations and companies, 124 utility and service firms, 20 healthcare institutions, and 16 banks, credit card firms and insurers.

OFBank was launched on June 29, 2020 as the country’s first branchless and all-digital government bank after it secured an online banking license from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) in March 2020.

The lender was established via Executive Order 44 in September 2017 to serve as a financial institution for overseas Filipino workers and their families here in the country.

The DoF said the bank obtained a Certificate of Authority to Register from the BSP on July 8 as part of its post-approval requirements. — BML

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