Your privacy matters

Maintaining your privacy is an important part of all the products and services that we provide. This Privacy Policy, hereafter referred to as “Policy”, explains how we collect, protect, use, and share your information when you access our websites and/or apply for and avail of our products and services.

This Policy outlines the general practices of the Bank of the Philippine Islands (“BPI”) in relation to all our processes and content which are made available through our network of websites, our online and mobile applications, and social media pages (collectively referred to as the “websites”). This Policy also covers the privacy practices for our customers who apply for and obtain products and services from us, including, but not limited to, deposits, loans, investments, insurance, safety deposit box, and such other products and services that the Bank may offer from time to time. 

We use the information collected to deliver and provide the products and services that you have availed to:

• approve, facilitate, administer and process applications and transactions;
• respond to queries, requests and complaints and improve how we interact with you;
• send you statements, billings, notices and other such documents necessary for continued use of our products and services;
• conduct studies and research for the purpose of further reviewing, developing and improving our products and services;
• perform profile analysis, behavioral modeling and analytics to understand needs, preferences and market trends to be able to improve, enhance and recommend suitable products and services;
• reach out to you regarding products and services information, including offers, promotions, discounts, rewards; and for personalizing your experience with our various touchpoints such as branches, call center, telemarketing, email, messaging and such other bank channels;
• determine the effectiveness of our marketing efforts and initiatives;
• provide location-based services such as finding the ATM or branch nearest to you;
• perform certain protective safeguards against improper use or abuse of our products and services including fraud prevention;
• comply with our operational, audit, administrative, credit and risk management processes, policies and procedures, the terms and conditions governing our products, services, facilities and channels, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas rules and regulations, legal and regulatory requirements of government regulators, judicial, supervisory bodies, tax authorities or courts of competent jurisdiction, as the same may be amended or supplemented from time to time;
• comply with applicable laws of the Philippines and those of other jurisdictions including the United States Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), the laws on the prevention of money laundering including the provisions of Republic Act No. 9160 (Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001, as amended (AMLA) and the implementation of know your customer and sanction screening checks;
• comply with legal and regulatory requirements such as submission of data to credit bureaus, credit information companies, the Credit Information Corporation (CIC) (pursuant to Republic Act No. 9510 and its implementing rules and regulations), respond to court orders and other instructions and requests from any local or foreign authorities including regulatory, governmental, tax and law enforcement authorities or other similar authorities;
• perform other such activities permitted by law or with your consent.

We may share your personal information with our subsidiaries, affiliates and third parties, under an obligation of confidentiality.

• We may share personal information with various units within BPI in order to better understand the way you use our products and services. This will allow us to improve our services and offer you opportunities to obtain such other useful products and services that may deliver greater value to you.
• We may share information with our subsidiaries and affiliates to likewise offer you additional products and services that we believe you might find interesting.
• We may share with third parties that we engaged to support us in delivering our services to you. These may involve anonymous or aggregated information to help improve our products, services, and content.
• We may share information with any potential transferee or assignee of any of the rights and obligations of BPI under the relevant contracts or agreements or in connection with any sale, acquisition, merger or consolidation of any member of the BPI Group of Companies.
• We may also engage third parties to help us operate our business. These include support in:
  • complying with legal requirements and directives such as court orders and legal processes;
  • enforcing the terms and conditions of products and services which you have availed including, among others, those relating to loans and/or credit facilities, or such other applicable guidelines, policies and procedures governing products and services that we provide or make available;
  • addressing fraud, security or technical issues, to respond to an emergency or otherwise to protect the rights, property or security of our customers or third parties;
  • to carry out all other purposes set out above.

Further, if you are, become, or apply to become a customer of any of our subsidiaries and affiliates, BPI and the subsidiary/ies and/or affiliate/s concerned has the option, but not the obligation to, rely upon, use, and share your relevant personal and/or account information for any of the following purposes:

• To facilitate your account opening or application with the concerned subsidiary/ies or affiliate/s;
• To validate, consolidate or update your customer information records and/or credit history;
• To provide consolidated billings, deposit or investment summaries or such other reports as you may request;
• To send you reminders, announcements, promotions, advertisements, offers, invitations and other notifications;
• To enroll you in loyalty or similar client-oriented programs of the BPI Group of Companies;
• For research purposes or to develop, design, upgrade and/or enhance banking, financial, securities and investments or such other related products or services that you may consider and/or avail of;
• For promotional campaigns and/or marketing activities of BPI or of relevant members of the BPI Group of Companies;
• To comply with or enforce the terms and conditions of any agreement entered into by or on behalf of BPI which the Bank is bound to observe; and/or
• To comply with legal obligations and/or regulatory requirements to which BPI or the relevant member of the BPI Group of Companies is subject.

We may transfer, store, and/or process your personal data outside the Philippines to support any business purposes which you have authorized or to comply with our legal obligations and agreements in other jurisdictions. In doing so, we will comply with applicable data protection laws and regulations.

We assure you that we do not, and will not, sell personal data to any third parties. All our engagements with third parties shall be fully compliant with our obligation of confidentiality imposed on us under the applicable agreements and/or terms and conditions or any applicable laws that govern our relationship with you.

We fully recognize the value of your personal information particularly as it may include sensitive personal information such as your gender, government-issued IDs, etc. Appropriately, we endeavor to maintain the confidentiality, integrity and availability of your personal information by employing physical, technological and procedural safeguards. We train our employees to properly handle your information. Whenever we engage other companies to provide services for us, we require them to protect personal information consistent with our own security standards.

Your personal information shall be retained for as long as the purposes for which it was collected which you may have consented to from time to time remain in effect and for such period of time as is reasonably necessary or allowed for BPI and relevant members of the BPI Group of Companies, as applicable, to process and/or retain your personal information under applicable laws and regulations.

In no case shall BPI or the BPI Group of Companies use your personal data outside of the purposes stated herein.

In respecting your rights to privacy, you may opt to tell us:

• to inform you of what we do with your personal information;
• to provide you with information that we currently have about you, subject to restrictions applied to us as a bank and a company operating in the Philippines by certain laws and regulations, in an easy-to-access format and easy-to-understand language;
• not to send you marketing materials via email or SMS, not to share your information with our subsidiaries and affiliates or with other companies that we have business with provided that such information is not critical nor required by applicable laws and regulations in maintaining, providing and completing the products or services that you have availed from us;
• not to process your personal information upon withdrawing consent, unless processing is legally required;
• to remove and dispose your personal information from our records, as allowed by applicable laws and regulations;
• to update any personal information upon your advice;
• to electronically move, copy, or transfer it securely through available means.

We may charge a fee for processing your request/s for access and/or update. Such a fee depends on the nature and complexity of your request. Information on any processing fee will be made available to you prior to making the request.

You may lodge a complaint regarding our use of your personal data and be assured that we will address your concerns promptly. Should we fail to do so, you may address any complaint to our regulators, particularly the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the National Privacy Commission, consistent with the rights granted to you under applicable laws and regulations.