BPI BDO Metrobank — these are the three best banks in the Philippines. They are the most popular because they offer services for free or at costs lower than the other banks. They’re also seen as more friendly to the regular bank customer.

They also adapt to situations in their locations.  If they’re located near wet markets, bank guards don’t mind if a depositor is in crumpled shorts, or in slippers, or drenched in sweat, or carrying worn baskets.

We have accounts in these three banks — BPI BDO Metrobank — as each bank offers certain services that we like:

BPI Family:

• Its maintaining balance is only 1,000 pesos.
• Its Internet banking is easy to navigate and use, and its free. We use this system to send money to our daughter who studies in another city.
• It has a lot of branches and ATMs near our area.

BDO:

• Its maintaining balance is 2,000 pesos — still lower than or equal to other commercial banks’ balance requirements.
• It has a lot of ATMs and branches, many of which are in malls. These mall branches open on Saturday, Sundays and holidays. And they’re also open until mall closing hours.

Metrobank:

• Its ATM-based savings account also requires a maintaining balance of 2,000 pesos.
• We like this bank because it offers a Mastercard credit card that has zero annual fee forever.

For more information, this article on BPI BDO Metrobank is helpful.