BDO and BPI currently list ordinary savings rates of 0.0625% a year. Maya Bank lists a 3% base rate on Maya Savings. That is a 48-fold difference before any promotional boost.
The usual explanation is that digital banks have no branches, so they spend less on rent, tellers and physical infrastructure and can pass some of those savings to depositors. That is part of the answer, but it does not explain the whole business model.
A savings deposit is funding for the bank
Money in a savings account is not only sitting there waiting for the depositor to withdraw it. For the bank, deposits are also a source of funding, which means the interest rate is a price the bank pays for that money.
A bank that wants more deposits can choose to pay more to attract them. That matters for newer digital banks that do not have the same long-established deposit bases as large incumbents. Fitch said in 2023 that Philippine digital banks were competing aggressively for deposits while building scale, with many relying heavily on price to attract customers, according to The Philippine Star.
Current BSP data show the same direction in the sector’s funding economics. In June 2026, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported a 4.15% funding cost for the Digital Bank Group, compared with 1.87% for universal and commercial banks. Funding cost is broader than the rate on one savings account, but the comparison shows that digital banks as a group are actually paying more for the money they use to fund their businesses.
They also earn more on the other side
Paying more for deposits makes more sense if the bank can also earn more from the assets those deposits help support. In June 2026, the Digital Bank Group’s earning-asset yield was 16.97%, compared with 5.94% for universal and commercial banks.
This does not mean a digital bank takes a peso from your savings account, lends that same peso out at 16.97%, then pockets the difference. Banks hold different mixes of loans, securities, cash and other assets. But the comparison shows why the deposit rate cannot be understood on its own: digital banks are paying more for funding while the assets on the other side of their balance sheets are also producing much higher yields as a group.
That higher asset yield gives them more room to carry a higher cost of deposits than a traditional bank with a different asset mix.
No branches does not mean cheap to run
Digital banks do avoid one major category of physical infrastructure. Under BSP Circular No. 1105, a digital bank is a distinct regulatory class designed to provide financial products and services end-to-end through digital platforms without physical branches providing those services.
The branch-cost advantage is real, but the current numbers do not show a sector that is simply cheaper to operate. In June 2026, the Digital Bank Group had a 75.39% cost-to-income ratio, compared with 54.02% for universal and commercial banks. The group was also still loss-making in aggregate, with BSP reporting an annualized net loss of about P5.25 billion.
Those are sector averages, not the financial condition of every individual digital bank, and some banks can perform better than the group. Even so, the numbers make it difficult to describe higher savings rates as spare profit being handed back to depositors because an app costs less than a branch network. Digital banks still spend on technology, compliance, customer acquisition, servicing, credit operations and growth.
The biggest rates are often promotional
Some of the highest advertised rates make the gap look larger than the normal base rate. Maya currently advertises up to 15% a year, but its base rate is 3%. The additional interest depends on promotional conditions, applies only to qualifying users and is capped at a limited balance under the current campaign.
That structure lets a bank use a very high headline rate to attract attention and deposits without paying the same rate on every depositor’s full balance indefinitely. Rates can also change as competition, funding needs and market conditions change, so a high savings rate is a product decision rather than a permanent feature of digital banking.
Digital banks pay more because deposits are valuable to them. Newer banks are competing for funding and customers, and they are willing to pay more to get them. Their higher-yielding asset mix gives them more room to absorb that cost, while operating without a traditional branch network removes some physical overhead. The current BSP data, however, show that lower overhead is only part of the explanation. The high savings rate is ultimately one of the prices a bank chooses to pay for deposits and growth.