PH mobile financial services growing leaps and bounds

Amdocs projects a strong growth in mobile banking in the Philippines as mobile financial services (MFS) are more universally offered or practiced across the country. Amdocs Vice President for Mobile Financial Services Justin Ho said the use of mobile money is a more effective way of reaching the country’s unbanked and underbanked sector.

Amdocs, he said, is a market leader in software solutions and services for the world’s largest communications, entertainment and media service providers.

He said, “Using MFS is three times cheaper than using a bank branch. The mobile financial service is the way to go. Banks and telecommunication companies can both participate in its success,” he recently said at a news conference on the subject.

When asked about regulatory concerns on MFS, he replied, “The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has been inclusive and helpful in terms of providing the right regulation to promote MFS. It’s always open to adopt and welcome new ideas.” He added that the Philippines has a central bank that cares about financial inclusion unlike other central banks in the world He said the MFS penetration in the Philippines is no longer in infancy.

“In the next five years, that [MFS] will be mainstreamed,” he said.

“Banks of today are more advanced technologically but still siloed. We wanted digital. We provide mobile money.  “We have an MFS platform which is the most advanced,” he said.

Ho said people can put their domestic remittance in mobile money and use it to pay bills.

The salary of certain people may be dispensed via mobile money platforms and the government’s cash-transfer program may also be conducted using electronic wallets. He said such often underserved people like farmers who use so-called electronic wallets can keep track of their digital footprint. He also noted some 25 percent or 28 percent of Filipinos live below the poverty line and that financial inclusion is important to get people above the poverty line.

He cited a World Bank report which showed 69 percent of the population are unbanked Filipinos. They patronize loan sharks and pay more than 300 percent for the accommodation.

He also cited another survey in the Philippines which showed 38 percent of the Filipinos saying it’s easy to pay cash, 38 percent having privacy issues, while 27 percent do not know how to use the MFS.

He said 54 percent of the people surveyed trust banks and that a large chunk or 31 percent said they trust mobile banks.

-- Business Mirror

BPI mobile-banking users hit 1 million

The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) has passed the 1-million mark for mobile-banking users and targets to acquire at least half of the lender’s clients over the next five years.

BPI Vice President and Electronic Channels Division Head Carlo Carmelo Gatuslao said 1 million of the 7 million BPI retail clients use the bank’s mobile app at present.

He said BPI already exceeded this year’s 40-percent growth target or 800,000 mobile-banking users by year-end. Combined online and mobile-banking users already reached 1.8 million and mobile-banking users alone reached 1 million.

“We expect our digital channel enrollment and usage to grow. We will offer more services beyond what we have now. Currently the penetration rate is 35 percent of our customers. Half of the bank’s customers will use electronic banking in five years. We can have half of 7 million bank clients in five years,” he said. He sees further growth in usage of mobile-banking services because of the convenience and efficiency it offers.

“With the BPI Express Mobile app, our clients can easily access their accounts and make financial transactions even with the most affordable smartphone. About 32 percent of smartphones users in the Philippines use it for data. In five years, the number of smartphone penetration will double,” he said.

BPI Assistant Vice President Frederick Faustino said mobile-banking financial transactions averaged 1.6 million transactions a month totaling Php12.6 billion. The transactions involve cash transfer and bill payments, Faustino said. He said most of the mobile-banking users were aged 20 to 45.

BPI’s leadership in Philippine mobile-banking was recently affirmed by two prestigious award-giving bodies in the financial services industry. The Asian Banker recognized BPI for the Best Mobile Banking in the Philippines award and the Bank Marketing Association of the Philippines awarded BPI as Best Electronic Delivery Channel.

The award honors the bank with a mobile-banking platform that demonstrates the use of the full range of current mobile device technology for financial transactions and services in the most intuitive and secure manner possible.

Earlier in the year, The Asian Banker also named BPI as the Best Retail Bank in the Philippines for 2015.

BPI to expand business via mobile-based BPI Globe BanKo

The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) aims to expand microfinance lending by targeting the bottom market through the country’s first mobile phone-based savings bank, BPI Globe BanKo. Former BPI Globe BanKo President and CEO and now the Mynt President and CEO John Rubio said BPI is accelerating its third leg, BPI Globe BanKo, to widen its bottom market reach.

“We have a big market base in microfinance business. They wanted to go to the specific model in microfinance based on the success of our segment. They have great brands, BPI and BPI Family, and there’s a viable way to reach the base of the pyramid through Globe BanKo,” he said on the sidelines of the Mondato Summit Asia.

He said Globe BanKo’s total deposits reached Php1.1 billion in August. Total loans expanded to Php180 million, from last year’s Php100 million. The mobile-based bank has 1.1 million clients. BPI will increase its touch points. Currently we have five bank branches. BPI’s plan is to expand them,” he said.

Rubio said they do not want to compete with commercial banks and that Globe will be accelerating its business in the digital platform. He did not divulge the acquisition cost, but he said that sales proceeds were used by Globe to set up Mynt, the financial technology innovations arm of Globe Telecoms.

With Mynt, they will be able to serve the underserved and unserved markets in a different way. “The proceeds from the sale were reinvested back to financial technology business. That’s why we have Mynt.

We have the G-Cash transactions and other business in the pipeline like payments, scoring and other financial technology business,” he told reporters. With the acquisition of BanKo, BPI underscores its commitment to inclusive growth.

Ayala Corp. CEO and Chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala said BPI’s assumption of full control and ownership of BanKo is an important step in the continued effort of the Ayala group to provide access to essential financial services to the unbanked segments of our population.

“BPI will now  be  properly  positioned  to  pursue  traditional  microfinance  lending  within  existing  regulatory frameworks,” he said.

“We thank our partners for giving us yet another opportunity to give access to funds and other banking services to clients who, otherwise, would not have been able to bridge their personal financial needs and jump-start their ventures,”  BPI President and CEO Cezar P. Consing said.