Bank Accounts & Crypto Exchanges in the Philippines for Expats

[DragonDance]

Hi,

I m coming to Philippines end of this month as an expat and I was wondering what would be the most cost efficient bank account for me to open as an international ?

I intend to mostly use it for crypto transfers to then cash out from ATM's in the local currency...

What would be the most crypto-friendly bank, and what crypto - fiat exchange would you recommend using in Philippines for this purpose ?

ps. I intend to stay medium to long term, though I m entering as a tourist first so dont have any alien / residency card ...
also I ll be staying in Cebu, at least initially...


Many thanks in advance

[mk4]

Based on experience, banks here in the Philippines tend to be really crypto-friendly; at least as of now. Though personally I'd pick either BDO, Metrobank, or BPI. In terms of cost efficient probably Metrobank, but their online banking sucks in my opinion. Personally, I'd go with BPI. Not sure about the most cost efficient though.

As for crypto-fiat exchanges, most would suggest Coins.ph[1] as it's a lot more famous here, but I'd personally go with Abra[2]. The price premiums are significantly lower with Abra than what you'd get with Coins.ph. Having a Coins.ph account is also good though, as you can use it to buy mobile load in exchange for bitcoin. Basically, Abra for crypto<->fiat, and Coins.ph for mobile load and bills payments and such.

Feel free to ask more questions, and I hope you enjoy your stay!

-- Data --

Coinmarketcap(CMC) price: ₱593,224
Coins.ph buy price: ₱605,388
Abra buy price: ₱601,365

Pricepoint: August 11, 2019 | 01:30 AM GMT+8 (Philippine time)
within a few seconds apart between platforms(possibly with small price fluctuations)

-- Buy Price Differences per 1 BTC --

Data Sources	|	Price Difference	|	Percentage Difference
CMC vs Coins.ph	|	₱12,164	|	2.02%
CMC vs Abra	|	₱8,141	|	1.36%
Coins.ph vs Abra	|	₱4,023	|	0.67%

[1] https://coins.ph/
[2] https://abra.com/

[Bttzed03]

Wallet: Abra
Bank: Union Bank

Abra because it's probably the friendliest wallet for non-locals. Union bank is one of the banks that supports withdrawal thru Abra wallet and they are the only bank here in the Philippines that has a bitcoin ATM.

For further reading:
Which banks/credit unions does Abra work with?
How do I withdraw from my wallet using a bank? Philippines

[crwth]

Welcome to the Philippines! I hope you enjoy your stay here. As for the conversion of crypto-fiat, I usually transact P2P, and you could save a lot depending on who you are transacting with. Mostly, if you are going to be transacting with a user, it's best to get the most traditional banks.

• Banco de Oro (BDO Unibank, Inc.
• Bank of the Philippine Islands
• Metropolitan Bank & TCO (Metrobank)

I think with those banks, and you could already exchange with someone. If you can't trust someone right away, it's best to do it with Abra, as the others mentioned.

[Dabs]

You might need your alien residency card in order to open a PH bank account. I don't think they will open bank accounts for tourists.

The work around is to ask for help from someone to do it for you (is someone hosting your stay?). Technically, they'd own the account, but you could keep the ATM card and do the withdrawals yourself.

Abra and coins and rebit have a list of banks they support including any fees (which should be minor, sometimes it's as low as 50 to 100 pesos) and I'd just pick whichever was closest physically to where you are staying.

It's good to note that all Ayala malls have BPI branches, and all SM malls have BDO branches.

If you can open more than one bank account, do so. I would assume, that as an expat with crypto, the minimum maintaining balance for these bank accounts should not be a problem (usually 500 to 3000 pesos, about less than $100 USD that has to just sit in the account.)

Regardless of the perceived crypto friendliness of the banks, you do not need to ever mention you will use bitcoin or crypto, in fact I would advice against even saying anything remotely connected to crypto or bitcoin. Just open an account like any other person would. They usually don't care. If you mention bitcoin, the poor teller or bank manager or whoever is there might give you a difficult time.

If you say, you have money coming from abroad, or you just need an account to deposit savings, the process goes much smoother.

[cola-jere]

Try to stay below Php 500,000 per tx and/or per cash-out as it might be red flagged by the bank due to Anti-Money Laundering.
Best is around Php 400,000 per transaction or total tx for 1-2 days.

[Dabs]

I've successfully transacted 400k per day for several days in a row before, using coins.ph as that was my daily limit. No issues, except coins decided they wanted to talk to me a few months AFTER it happened. So I talked to them. I said hi, hello.

[cml2019]

Got no recommendation for any banks.
For a local crypto exchange, maybe you might want to dig a deeper research as Abra, Rebit and coins has it's pros and cons. As of the moment I am using coins but as problem arises, they are getting more personal information than they could possibly have/hold.

How about P2P? I heard may people are crypto inclined in Cebu and you might find a healthy community in there. Though it's not really safe for everyone to transact that way, atleast it's how crypto works, P2P, decentralized, sadly not just via internet.

No issues, except coins decided they wanted to talk to me a few months AFTER it happened. So I talked to them. I said hi, hello.

Sana all. Check this experience by john1010, got 2 cents?

[Theb]

First of all I hope that you'll have a wonderful stay here in the Philippines, Filipinos are known for their good hospitality to foreigners, you'd be surprised that some of them even knows your language just by looking at you. Here in the Philippines we barely use the term "crypto-friendly banks" as all of our banks welcome any kind of deposits coming from known bank accounts from crypto businesses. As for a crypto exchange you really have one option reliable option really and that is coins.ph which has been mentioned several times already in this thread, their service do accommodate most banks via their bank deposit option but if you aren't willing to wait for your funds to be credited I would recommend banks that has a InstaPay option where your funds would be credited in a matter of minutes. Namely these banks are Maybank, Union Bank of the Philippines, EastWest Bank, PNB, Security Bank, and AUB which are all reputable banks and has been operating here for a long time now.

Aside from choosing an InstaPay enabled banks you also have to mind that Coins.Ph comes with daily Cash In and Monthly Cash Out limits based on their level of verification. For most folks here the Level 3 verification is enough which comes with a monthly withdrawal limit of 400,000₱ (around 7,860 USD) all they need from you is an ID, Selfie holding the ID, and a proof of your address. But if that is not enough they still have a level 4 verification process that gives you custom withdrawal limits, the verification process involves a video call from them but the additional requirements needed from you will depend on how much you want to bump up your limits.

[ice18]

Union Bank is my most recommended bank here in the Philippines when it come to cryptocurrency others dont even mention to them such as bitcoin because Im sure they will decline your account opening this is based on some experienced stated here by other members, I dont know if those expats or foreigners are allowed to open bank accounts but you can try it , about exchanges Abra is what I recommend because of its best rate compared to Coinsph and the best thing is they are not  really strict on KYC policy.   

[arwin100]

Before knowing the details about your situation kindly read this article https://www.justlanded.com/english/Philippines/Philippines-Guide/Money/Opening-a-bank-account since it will help you.

And also read the discussions here  https://www.tripadvisor.com.ph/ShowTopic-g294245-i3256-k11429662-Opening_bank_account_as_foreigner-Philippines.html    about what you ask since you can find a   reliable suggestions

And the suggested bank as per this article provided https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/042415/expats-opening-bank-account-philippines.asp

[danherbias07]

Hello there and I hope you will enjoy your stay here and be memorable when you go back to your homeland.
It would be better though if you can exchange your crypto at your place for starters.
If your card is VISA or a Mastercard, you can still use it here for withdrawals.
My friend does that every year and he won't need to worry about files needed to create another account with banks here.
The requirements will always be the problem and I bet you just want to relax and don't want any stress.

But, if you are really willing to do it then, there is Coins.ph (exchange) and Metrobank or Unionbank as a good pair.
Then, there is also PayMaya (optional) if you want your transactions to be smoother with merchants. Most of them do accept this kind of payment. That way, you won't bring too much cash in your pocket.
I hope you are using an android phone too. It will be more easier since Coins.ph, Unionbank and PayMaya have android applications and they do customer support this way.

Try to stay below Php 500,000 per tx and/or per cash-out as it might be red flagged by the bank due to Anti-Money Laundering.
Best is around Php 400,000 per transaction or total tx for 1-2 days.

If there is proof of transactions then I think it won't be a problem. Or let us just say he had proofs that he could really earn this huge amounts.

[cola-jere]

I've successfully transacted 400k per day for several days in a row before, using coins.ph as that was my daily limit. No issues, except coins decided they wanted to talk to me a few months AFTER it happened. So I talked to them. I said hi, hello.

That's good! Thanks Sir Dabs for sharing!

[Dabs]

When you talk to anyone from the exchanges, be nice, be polite, be vague, tell them it's normal income, try to make a story that looks as normal as possible. If you say you are a manager of some random medium to big size company, they stop asking further questions as it's too difficult to actually verify.

[SeriousHodler]

You can check out this list of the best crypto exchange in the Philippines for 2021.

https://www.binance.com/ph/blog/421499824684901525/What-is-the-Best-Cryptocurrency-Exchange-in-the-Philippines