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May 2010 Highlights
May 31, 2010 By Leave a Comment
RBAP-MABS Partners with Microfinance Opportunities and The MasterCard Foundation to expand mobile phone banking services
May 28, 2010 By
The Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP) through its USAID-supported Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (MABS) Program will now receive support from Microfinance Opportunities (MFO) and The MasterCard Foundation to assist the expansion of mobile phone banking services via increased financial education for customers and clients of rural banks.
Rural Bank Mobile Phone Banking Services Set to Expand in the Philippines
There are already 900 accredited rural bank branches and sub-offices offering mobile phone banking services via the GCASH platform, benefiting 122,000 rural bank clients. More than PhP six billion (US $130 million) in mobile phone banking transactions have been processed by these rural banks and the volume of transactions is increasing.
Through this partnership, RBAP-MABS will further accelerate this growth by renewing the educational campaign for its mobile phone banking initiative. RBAP-MABS will leverage its partnerships with rural banks, Globe and its gateway SMS service provider to develop an improved m-banking toolkit for rural banks officers and staff, their merchant partners and their clients. This toolkit will include instructional videos, web-based distance learning tools and mobile banking guides for improving customer education. RBAP-MABS intends for these materials to be publicly available online, transferrable to and among mobile phones, and deliverable through Internet applications and channels.
RBAP President Joseph Omar Andaya stated, “We are excited about the support from Microfinance Opportunities and The MasterCard Foundation. We look forward to significantly expanding our outreach and using our mobile channel to provide increased access to financial educational tools for our clients.”
Through this project, RBAP-MABS expects to deepen understanding and appreciation of mobile banking in rural areas, and dramatically increase rural banks’ client outreach. RBAP has also recently received the green light from the BSP to work with Smart and qualified member rural banks to provide Smart Money money-in and money-out services for rural bank clients who are Smart subscribers. It expects that this will further expand domestic remittance services via mobile money in the countryside.
Microfinance Opportunities President and Founder Monique Cohen stated, “We look forward to working with RBAP-MABS to develop financial education that will reach rural communities and prepare them to be more informed consumers of mobile phone banking services and more effective managers of their money.”
“Branchless banking offers people living in rural areas unprecedented access to financial services,” said Reeta Roy, president and CEO of The MasterCard Foundation. “This initiative goes a step further by also providing clients the education needed to understand and take advantage of the opportunity to enter the global market.”
Microfinance Opportunities and The MasterCard Foundation’s Financial Education Program
MFO and The MasterCard Foundation recently announced a three-year financial education program targeting low-income populations in Africa, Asia and Latin America/Caribbean. These populations include youth, women and people living in rural communities. The program’s objective is to strengthen consumers’ understanding of branchless banking and formal financial products and services, and build trust in technology-based financial tools such as mobile phones, ATMs and smart cards.
About Microfinance Opportunities
Microfinance Opportunities (MFO) is a U.S.-based microenterprise resource center that promotes client-led microfinance. It is considered a market leader in financial education for the world’s poor, reaching more than 21 million low-income households through curriculum and mass media channels.
About The MasterCard Foundation
The MasterCard Foundation believes that every person has the potential to transform their lives and to improve the lives of their families and their communities. By increasing access to microfinance and youth education to people in developing countries, the foundation is enabling them to realize their potential and lift themselves out of poverty. The foundation’s vision is to make the economy work for everybody. It is an independent, private foundation based in Toronto, Canada and was established through the generosity of MasterCard Worldwide at the time of the company’s initial public offering in 2006. For more information, see http://www.mastercardfdn.org/.
The Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP) through its USAID-supported Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (MABS) Program will now receive support from Microfinance Opportunities (MFO) and The MasterCard Foundation to assist the expansion of mobile phone banking services via increased financial education for customers and clients of rural banks.
Rural Bank Mobile Phone Banking Services Set to Expand in the Philippines
There are already 900 accredited rural bank branches and sub-offices offering mobile phone banking services via the GCASH platform, benefiting 122,000 rural bank clients. More than PhP six billion (US $130 million) in mobile phone banking transactions have been processed by these rural banks and the volume of transactions is increasing.
Through this partnership, RBAP-MABS will further accelerate this growth by renewing the educational campaign for its mobile phone banking initiative. RBAP-MABS will leverage its partnerships with rural banks, Globe and its gateway SMS service provider to develop an improved m-banking toolkit for rural banks officers and staff, their merchant partners and their clients. This toolkit will include instructional videos, web-based distance learning tools and mobile banking guides for improving customer education. RBAP-MABS intends for these materials to be publicly available online, transferrable to and among mobile phones, and deliverable through Internet applications and channels.
M-Commerce leaders from Bahrain and Latin America study Philippine mobile banking
May 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment
A study group composed of six executives from YQ Bahrain, Movilway and Utiba Americas visited the Philippines on May 16-18 to take a look at Philippine mobile phone banking. Movilway CEO Fernando Fiksman and COO Dan Cohen, as well as YQ Bahrain General Manager Fawaz Ghazal and Board Director Tariq Al Saffar, were accompanied by two representatives from Utiba, the mobile wallet developer that crafted Globe’s GCASH.
Facilitated by the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP), the tour included visits to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), USAID-supported Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (MABS) Program, and Nueva Ecija-based MABS participating bank GM Bank. They met with GM Bank’s mobile phone banking clients, interviewing them on the benefits and convenience of the bank’s mobile phone banking services.
MABS presented its mobile phone banking initiatives, which it rolled out in partnership with Globe’s G-XChange Inc. (GXI) and its participating banks. The delegates were particularly interested in the country’s m-banking regulatory environment and the benefits of m-banking to bank clients.
A study group composed of six executives from YQ Bahrain, Movilway and Utiba Americas visited the Philippines on May 16-18 to take a look at Philippine mobile phone banking. Movilway CEO Fernando Fiksman and COO Dan Cohen, as well as YQ Bahrain General Manager Fawaz Ghazal and Board Director Tariq Al Saffar, were accompanied by two representatives from Utiba, the mobile wallet developer that crafted Globe’s GCASH. [Read more...]
BSP approves housing loan manual
May 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Business World – RURAL BANKS’ product template for small housing loans has been approved by the central bank, easing the process by which lenders can offer the product.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando M. Tetangco, Jr. said the approval by the Monetary Board of the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines’ (RBAP) product manual for housing microfinance loans means banks need not ask the central bank for approval before they can offer such loans to clients.
These banks, however, must be participants in the Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (MABS).
“If you are a member of RBAP and a MABS participant, you don’t have to seek a separate approval from the BSP… to be able to extend housing microfinance. You can simply use the product manual that has been approved,” Mr. Tetangco said.
“(This) facilitates the process so all RBAP-MABS banks can simply use the product manual that was presented to the Monetary Board,” Mr. Tetangco said.
New Rural Bank of Victorias and GCASH Proudly Serve Ate Evelyn
May 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Philippine Star – The New Rural Bank of Victorias together with G-XChange, Inc. (GXI), a wholly-owned mobile commerce subsidiary of Globe Telecom, bring the benefits of mobile banking services to communities in Visayas benefiting individuals like Ate Evelyn.
