There is always some confusion on what is the BRSTN for the regular Bank of the Philippine Islands (which I will also also refer to the “regular” BPI for clarity) and BPI Family Savings Bank. Common cases when one will use the BRSTN are freelancers or Virtual Assistants who need the BRSTN to link to their Upwork, or their Payoneer or PayPal accounts.
(Okay stop right now. This is going to be a long blog post. Why? Because it took me so long to get to the bottom of this nebulous BRSTN issue. If article length doesn’t deter you, keep reading.)
Many Filipinos are aware there are are differences between Bank of the Philippine Islands and BPI Family Savings Bank. After all, ‘Bank of the Philippine Islands’ and ‘BPI Family Saving Bank’ are distinct from each other. It’s true, you can do some things as if they were one and the same, such as deposit money for a BPI account in BPI Family Bank. However, some key policies with their banking products are different. The “regular” BPI is supposedly more corporate and business-friendly and BPI Family is, well, more family-friendly. BPI Family Savings bank has lower maintaining balances on their basic savings accounts, for example. BPI Family Savings Bank is also known for being a lot less busy. So if you don’t like long lines, it is commonly recommended that you should apply for a bank account at BPI Family Savings over just the “regular” BPI.
So here is the million centavo question: Does the “regular” BPI and BPI Family Savings Bank have the same BRSTN?
Fear no more. In this article I’m going to answer precisely that question.
The reason why there is confusion is apparent. In the mind of the ordinary Filipino, they are aware that the two BPIs function as separate entities. So, it should follow that their BRSTN should be different too. This is reinforced by some perhaps misleading information online. For example, this top-ranking bank information list for OFWs contains a separate BRSTN for the “regular” BPI, 10040018, and BPI Family Savings Bank 21000021. They also contain separate SWIFT codes, BOPIPHMM for the regular BPI and BPFFPHM1XXX for BPI Family Savings Bank. (The correct SWIFT code BPI Family Savings Bank is BPFSPHM1XXX by the way.)
Update: the website with confusing information finally corrected their webpage I linked by removing the confusing and wrong BPI Family Savings Bank SWIFT code.
It doesn’t help that even some people working in BPI are not aware of this issue with BRSTNs and how they confuse freelancers or virtual assistant trying to link their PayPals or Upwork accounts. I’ll go into that a little bit later.
In some very trusted website such list of Philippine BRSTN on the Upwork where the common place a Filipinos will ever encounter the need to use a BRSTN, only Bank of the Philippine Islands is listed. That number is 010040018. Of course, any freelancer or virtual assistant going on UPwork or whatever platform they’ll choose will ask “Where the heck is BPI Family on this list??” Is that you? That was me, too. Very valid question. I don’t blame you.
To compound the problem further if you have a check book from either, the BRSTN on the top right hand corner may be different.
So here it is. How did I find the answer?
I emailed BPI till I squeezed the answer out of them. (And squeezed my own ignorance on the matter out.)
I count a total of twenty emails exchanged back and fourth before I got the right answer. Yup, you read that right. Twenty emails. I emailed BPI’s Expressonline at expressonline@bpi.com.ph. From here, the queries were routed to the BPI E-mailbanking Team. I, at first, expected that it was a very routine question and I’d get the answer quite quickly. I was wrong. The first few representatives flat out denied that there was a BRSTN for the entire BPI. Each time I insisted there was such a thing as a BRSTN for BPI and BPI Family savings as a whole I was rebuffed.
Here is an example of an email got from one of the BPI representatives who answered my emails.
“We confirm receipt of your e-mail and noted your concern. We regret that we are unable to provide the Branch Routing Symbol Transit Number as it may only be inquire to the branch of account. If you intend to send remittance, below are following details needed in sending a remittance to your account:
– beneficiary account number
– beneficiary account name
– BPI swift code (BOPIPHMM)
– branch name and address”
I could just imagine the BPI representative behind the screen “Tsk, tsk. I’ve been working here for three years. In my three years I never encountered what this ‘BRSTN’ for the entire BRSTN this guy is referring to. I’m sure he’s referring to the Branch Routing Symbol and Transit number, not the Bank Routing Symbol and Transit Number. Nagmamarunong siguro ‘to (this guy is pretending to know what he’s talking about.)”
I did have a bit of self-doubt, but I knew there was such a thing as BRSTN for the entire bank. So I persisted and insisted. Finally, after my fourth email I received an email from a guy, who I’ll identify by his first name “Gordon”.
“Greetings from BPI Express Online!
We are writing in relation to your inquiry on the Bank Routing Symbol
Transit Number for BPI. Please be informed that BRSTN stands for
Bank/Branch Routing Symbol and Transit Number. This serves as the
identification number/code of the bank/branches participating in the
clearing operations.
On this note, please be aware that BPI has three financial institutions:
BPI, BPI Family Savings, and BPI Direct. Among these 3, only BPI Direct has
no physical branch. In this regard we only assign one BRSTN under this
institution which is 010540013. Unlike the accounts under BPI and BPI
Family Savings which has several physical branches. For this, each of them
has their own Branch Routing Symbol and Transit Number.
If you need further assistance or have other concerns, please do not
hesitate to send us another e-mail.
Thank you for choosing to bank with us online!
Sincerely,
[I’m leaving out his name for his privacy]
BPI E-mailbanking Team
E-mail address: expressonline@bpi.com.ph
Note: This e-mail is logged under Service Request Number XXXXXX”
Ahh… this must be the answer I said. But when I checked the number he gave 010540013, I noticed it was different from the number on Upwork and the other BRSTNs on other online lists. It turns out 010540013 is the BRSTN of BPI Direct which has no physical branches. I guess this just confused me a bit more.
I shot a couple more emails…
“Dear Mr. Villanueva:
Greetings from BPI Express Online!
We apologize for the time it has taken us to reply. We confirm receipt of your email. Please allow us to explain that we have no arrangement with Paypal with regard to direct funds transfers. The funds that you send from Paypal to your BPI account will actually be coursed through their local partners. The standard code used for international remittances to BPI is our SWIFT code BOPIPHMM. The BPI routing code 010040018 is used only to facilitate the local remittance required to send the funds to your BPI account.
For future remittances from the US, may we suggest that you look into the services of our BPI Express Remittance Center (BERC) instead. The list of BERCs may be found thru this link: BPI Overseas Offices.
If you are in a US state where we have no BERC, then you may want to try our internet-based tie-up, Xoom.com. You may visit their websitewww.xoom.com for more details.
If you need further assistance or have other concerns, please do not hesitate to send us another e-mail.
Thank you for choosing to bank with us online!
Sincerely,
[name omitted]
BPI E-mailbanking Team
E-mail address: expressonline@bpi.com.ph”
Okay, we are getting somewhere… I asked them whether routing code 010040018 used only to facilitate the local remittance was the same for both BPI and BPI Family Savings Bank?
“Dear Mr. Villanueva:
Greetings from BPI Express Online!
We apologize for the time it has taken us to reply. We received your inquiry regarding remittance. Please be advised that the routing code 010040018 may be used to facilitate local remittance if it will be coursed through our BPI Head Office in Ayala Avenue Corner Paseo de Roxas Avenue, Brgy San Lorenzo, Makati City 1226. Should you wish to know the BRSTN of a specific branch, kindly provide us the branch details so we could give you the BRSTN of that particular branch.
If you need further assistance or have other concerns, please do not hesitate to send us another e-mail.
Thank you for choosing to bank with us online!
Sincerely,
[name omitted for privacy]
BPI E-mailbanking Team
E-mail address: expressonline@bpi.com.ph”
FINALLY, THE CONCLUSION!
So there it is guys. Whether you have a “regular” BPI account or BPI Family Savings Bank account, use 010040018 for your BRSTN if you want to link it up with your PayPal or Upwork or another online service. 010040018 is the head office of BPI. So there indeed is no BRSTN for BPI Family Savings Bank and the “regular” BPI as I was insisting. I was wrong. And the bank, after all those emails and frustrating answers, finally answered in me a round-about matter. Peace out!
