Maintaining balance in Philippine banks means the minimum monthly average daily balance (ADB) an account must keep.
Short answer A bank in the Philippines works out your monthly ADB by adding every day’s ending balance and dividing by the number of days in the month. Under BSP rules, a maintenance fee on an active account may be charged only after the ADB stays below the disclosed requirement for at least two consecutive months.
By zpeso Desk · BSP, BPI and Security Bank rules .
At a glance
Maintaining balance and ADB are the same test
Banks write “maintaining balance”, “minimum monthly ADB” or “required average daily balance”. BPI’s and Security Bank’s account terms both set the requirement as a monthly ADB and give the same formula:
Monthly ADB = (Day 1 ending balance + Day 2 ending balance … + Day 30/31 ending balance) ÷ number of days in the month
A 31-day month uses 31 ending balances and a 30-day month uses 30. The balance on the last day of the month is only one of those figures.
Source: BPI Terms and Conditions ↗ · Security Bank Terms and Conditions ↗ ·
Example: a late deposit and the monthly average
Take an account that requires a ₱3,000 monthly ADB, in a 30-day month. The figures below are an illustration of the formula, not a bank’s rate.
| Days | Ending balance each day | Sum for those days |
|---|---|---|
| Days 1–20 | ₱1,500 | ₱30,000 |
| Days 21–30 | ₱6,000 | ₱60,000 |
| Whole month | ₱90,000 | |
| Monthly ADB | ₱90,000 ÷ 30 = ₱3,000 |
Formula: BPI Terms and Conditions ↗ ·
The account meets a ₱3,000 ADB although its balance sat below ₱3,000 for 20 of the 30 days. It works the other way too: a high balance for a few days at month-end does not lift a month that was low for most of its days.
Can you withdraw the maintaining balance?
The requirement is an average, not a locked amount, so the terms quoted above do not stop you from withdrawing it. A withdrawal lowers that day’s ending balance and so lowers the month’s ADB. If the ADB stays below the requirement for two consecutive months, the bank may charge its disclosed fee.
When can a bank charge the below-balance fee?
The BSP’s 2016 circular amending Section X263 of the Manual of Regulations for Banks allows a maintenance fee on a deposit account only when:
- The required minimum monthly ADB, and the fact and amount of the fee, are disclosed in the account’s terms and conditions.
- The balance has fallen below the required minimum monthly ADB for at least two consecutive months.
- Clients were notified of any change in the required ADB at least 60 days before it takes effect.
Source: BSP 2016 circular on Sec. X263 ↗ ·
BPI’s terms repeat the two-month rule for active accounts, and say that for dormant accounts a fee may apply once the balance is below the required ADB. Security Bank’s terms charge its monthly service fee “whenever its balance falls below the minimum average daily balance requirement for two (2) consecutive months”. The peso amount is in each bank’s fee schedule: for example ₱300 a month on Security Bank peso savings, shown with its source on Security Bank maintaining balance.
Maintaining balance versus initial deposit
| Figure | What it is |
|---|---|
| Initial deposit | The amount needed to open the account |
| Maintaining balance (minimum monthly ADB) | The monthly average the account must keep to avoid the below-balance fee |
A product can need no initial deposit and still have a maintaining balance, or the reverse. The maintaining balance by bank table lists both figures for each bank’s basic savings account, with sources.
Dormant accounts follow their own rule
The same BSP circular allows a separate dormancy fee only five years after the last activity on the account, capped at ₱30 a month, and only after the required notices. The dormant account guide covers dormancy periods, notices and reactivation.
Source: BSP 2016 circular on Sec. X263 ↗ ·
How to check a below-balance charge
- Find the exact product name on your statement or in the bank app.
- Open the bank’s current fee schedule and note the required monthly ADB and the fee for that product.
- List the daily ending balances for the two months before the charge and work out each month’s ADB with the formula above.
- If both months were at or above the requirement, ask the bank to explain the debit. The BSP has told banks that a fee on accounts that meet the required monthly ADB violates Section X263 (BSP Memorandum M-2011-030 ↗).
- If the bank’s answer does not settle it, the BSP bank complaint route explains how to escalate.