MABS Highlights

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Conditional Cash Transfer, Rural Banks, and Mobile Money Transfer: Observations and Reflections

In a scene being played out in various places in the country, some of them more remote, over 400 households from four barangays in the municipality of Sogod, Cebu received financial support from the government through the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) on May 4, 2011.A 5-year program of the Philippine Government, 4Ps provides conditional cash grants for the poorest families in identified municipalities as financial aid for the family’s health and for children’s education. Aside from disbursements through the Land Bank of the Philippines, conditional cash transfers (CCT) are being disbursed too with the involvement of mobile money remittance channels such as rural banks and their mobile phone banking facility.

On May 4, I witnessed the day-long process of how atotal of PhP562,700 ($13,070) was disbursed to 414 beneficiaries composed mainly of women.It was the second cash grant for this group of …

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MABS HighlightsMicroinsurance

RBAP conducts its 5th Microinsurance Basic Training in Cebu

Eighteen (18) officers and staff of eleven (11) rural banks participated in the 2-day Microinsurance Basic Training held on May 4 and 5 at the Golden Prince Hotel in Cebu City.  Stated goals of the participants included (1) increased understanding of the concept and principles of microinsurance; (2) identification of criteria for partnership selection, and (3) awareness of requirements and procedures for regulatory compliance in offering Microinsurance.

With this in mind, the Microinsurance Training Team employed a mix of lectures, workshops and simulation activities to ensure that the participants not only learn the basic concepts of microinsurance, but also aim to pursue responsible microinsurance marketing and servicing as licensed microinsurance agents/brokers.  The Microinsurance Agent Licensing Kit containing step-by-step guides and templates was provided to all participants. This kit is to assist the participants’ respective banks through microinsurance service enhancements and regulatory compliance procedures prescribed by the Insurance Commission (IC) and …

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USAID/Philippines RBAP-MABS program highlighted at the ‘Mission of the Month’ event in Washington DC

USAID/Washington designated the Philippines as its ‘Mission of the Month’ for April 2011, and highlighted the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines – Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (RBAP-MABS) program as a project that has demonstrated impact.  During the event, the program’s success stories and lessons learned were shared with officials at the USAID headquarters in Washington, DC.

Melissa Scudo, Chemonics’ Director for Asia, presented the program’s history, work with rural banks, technical approach, and innovations in the field of microfinance.  The RBAP-MABS program supported by USAID/Philippines works with rural banks to sustainably expand microenterprise access to banking services throughout the Philippines.

A cross section of USAID personnel engaged in a lively discussion about the MABS Approach, which RBAP-MABS has been implementing to strengthen commercial microfinance services and its linkages to economic growth and poverty alleviation in Philippine rural areas.

The RBAP-MABS program began in 1997, focusing first on Mindanao. …

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How to Avoid an India-type Microfinance Crisis in the Philippines

As prologue to the BSP’s (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) National Microfinance Stakeholders Summit held on April 5, the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (RBAP-MABS) with support from USAID/Philippines and the Microfinance Council of the Philippines (MCPI) jointly held a pre-summit seminar on April 4 discussing “How to Avoid an India-type Microfinance Crisis in the Philippines”.

Opening the forum, RBAP President Corazon Miller described the India microfinance crisis as “a wake-up call for microfinance practitioners in the Philippines to begin the proactive process of strengthening transparency, following consumer protection practices, improving governance, and becoming better at communicating the value of Microfinance services.”

Led by Ms. Elisabeth Rhyne, Managing Director of ACCION International’s Center for Financial Inclusion and organized for the microfinance stakeholders in the Philippines particularly rural banks, NGOs, credit cooperatives and others, the seminar provided interesting discussions on some of the issues …

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MABS Highlights

RBAP-MABS and Smart Money expand RB Mabitac’s mobile money transfer services

On April 15-16, RBAP-MABS and Smart Communications trained 14 field officers of the Rural Bank of Mabitac (RB Mabitac) on mobile money transfer using Smart Money. The two-day Field Officers’ Smart Money Training/Workshop held in Los Baños, Laguna was attended by 14 representatives from five RB Mabitac branches: Los Baños, Paete, Candelaria, Infanta and Cabuyao.

Smart Communications is one of the leading wireless services providers in the Philippines, with over 45 million subscribers and 8 million Smart Money subscribers nationwide. RBAP, through its MABS program, collaborated with Smart to pilot test its e-money transfer services with RB Mabitac.

Three RB Mabitac branches (Cabuyao branch, Infanta branch and the head office) participated in the pilot test conducted with 30 clients and selected bank employees. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), through its Core Information Technology Supervision Group (BSP-CITSG), recently gave conditional approval for RB Mabitac to conduct Smart Money MIMO (money …

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Marketing Guru Mike Rios shares secrets to successful marketing with rural bankers

After his successful marketing strategies session during the 2010 RBAP-MABS National Roundtable Conference in Manila, marketing guru Mike Rios came back to the Philippines to share effective marketing strategies with the Philippine rural banks.

A former Nike and Coca-Cola creative adman, Mr. Rios believes that marketing has a greater purpose – that if it can sell cigarettes, fast food, and “brown sugar water” to the masses, it can also help motivate people to live healthier, wealthier, and happier lives as well. A big idea writer and strategist, he’s done work for ANZ Bank, Forte Insurance, MTV Exit, PSI, UNICEF, WING and is the Lead Social Marketing Consultant for the US non-profit Microfinance Opportunities (MFO).

On February 15, 19 officers and staffers from eight RBAP member rural banks gathered at the RBAP Building in Manila to learn about successful marketing for their products and services from Mr. Rios. He gave an …

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RBAP-MABS trains another set of rural banks to offer Housing Microfinance services

More rural banks are now preparing to offer housing microfinance (HMF) services as RBAP-MABS trains its third batch of bankers on market research for the HMF loan product. Twenty-five (25) participants from 9 rural banks interested in developing housing microfinance services for their clients attended the training held on August 25-27 in Mallig, Isabela.

Held as a collaborative effort of the USAID-supported RBAP-MABS Program and its certified service providers, Punla sa Tao Foundation and Microfinance Innovation Center for Resource and Alternatives (MICRA), the training was initiated by Ms. Praxedes Ignacio, President of the Northeast Luzon Microfinance Council.

The rural banks and microfinance institutions represented in the training were Rural Bank of Mabitac, Philippine Rural Banking Corp. (PR Bank), Mallig Plains Rural Bank, Agri-Business Rural Bank, Cagayan Valley Cooperative Bank, Rural Bank of Luna (Kalinga-Apayao), North Pacific Banking Corp. (a Rural Bank), Rural Bank of Maddela and Nueva Segovia Consortium of …

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BSP officers and Philippine Monetary Board member visit Green Bank and Cantilan Bank

A 12-member study group from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas(BSP) led by Monetary Board Member Juanita Amatong and Dep. Gov. Nestor Espenilla, Jr. visited Cantilan Bank and Green Bank in Butuan City from July 23-24. During the visit, the BSP engaged the officials and staff of the banks in an open dialogue concerning the challenges in their microfinance operations and the regulatory areas that could help promote sound expansion of microfinance services among rural banks. Cantilan Bank and Green Bank are both participant banks of the RBAP-MABS program, which is supported by USAID/Philippines.

At the Cantilan Bank branch in Butuan City, Ret. Gen. Charles Hotchkiss, chair of Cantilan Bank’s executive committee, briefed the group on the bank’s microfinance operations and its agriculture microfinance loan product performance. Cantilan Bank is one of the pioneers in implementing the RBAP-MABS Approach to agriculture microfinancing, which began in 2005.

The study group visited Cantilan …

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Delegates from Pacific Islands study Philippine mobile phone banking

A joint study group of 9 members from the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) and the Pacific Island Central Bankers visited the Philippines on June 21-23, 2010 to learn about Philippine mobile phone banking. Specifically, they were interested in the regulatory approach adopted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) for its successful implementation.

RBAP-MABS, a USAID-supported program, presented to the study group its experiences with rural banks and microfinance clients in developing and implementing its mobile phone banking initiatives using the GCASH platform. The RBAP-MABS team also shared the lessons learned over the past 5 years or so of experience. To date, there are already 62 rural banks with 906 branches offering mobile phone banking services to their clients in the countryside.

The study tour, led by Ms. Alyson Slater from Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), is composed of officials from the Reserve Bank of Fiji, Central Bank of …

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MABS HighlightsMicroinsurance

Lower taxes on life insurance to boost microinsurance in the Philippines

Clients interested to access microinsurance services may now celebrate another legal development that allows for more affordable life insurance products with the recent signing of Republic Act (RA) 10001, which reduces taxes on life insurance premiums.

Under this new law, the tax rate for total premiums collected has been scaled down to 2% from the previous rate of 5% stated in Section 123 of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997. The new law also provides for a revised documentary stamp tax scheme.

“It is expected that life insurance companies will reflect such reductions in the premiums … after the law becomes applicable”, Philippine Life Insurance Association (PLIA) President Mabini L. Juan said. “RA 10001 becomes effective only after 15 days from publication and after the issuance by BIR of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR)”, he added.

R.A. 10001 for rural banks

In a report by the Business World, …

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