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RCBC says online financial app downloads hit 4.2M

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RIZAL Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) said its online financial platform “DiskarTech” has hit 4.2 million downloads a year after its launch, with 4 out of 5 of them coming from provinces in the country.

In a statement, the platform said their 4.2 million downloads yielded at least 1 million basic deposit accounts, a total deposit size of P74.6 million, and a total usage value worth 2.5 billion. RCBC also said that 80 percent of DiskarTech users come from the provinces.

RCBC launched its platform at the height of the pandemic in July last year in an effort to provide “sachet banking services” to many unbanked and underserved Filipinos.

“[Through DiskarTech] we wanted to change the perception of Filipinos where banking is concerned. We want to focus on providing service especially to the underserved and the unbanked Filipinos especially in the provinces. We want them to achieve their financial aspirations, to experience asenso at ginhawa,” RCBC’s Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer Angelito M. Villanueva said.

RCBC said it developed the platform to serve customers in grassroots communities. Users can deposit and withdraw money, buy mobile load, apply for loans and insurance, and transact other digital payments, among others.

It was also designed with a default interface in Taglish (a mix of Tagalog and English) or Visayan.

The platform also partnered with several government agencies such as the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to digitize aid distribution during the pandemic.

DiskarTech was able to disburse a total of P16.13 billion in financial aid, benefitting 4.5 million households or 22.83 million individuals nationwide. Social Security System (SSS) members can also receive their loan proceeds and benefits directly to their DiskarTech accounts.

“There will be more features to be introduced for more users of DiskarTech. We would always want to be the first to continue innovating to be a fully inclusive mobile application,” Villanueva said.  Earlier this month, International credit watcher Moody’s Investor Services said Financial technology has “abundant room for growth: in the Philippines.

“The country presents a large untapped market for fintech companies because only a small proportion of the country’s population uses banking services, with about 70 percent of adults in the Philippines lacking access to banking and financial services,” Moody’s Analyst Joyce Ong was quoted in a statement as saying.

Moody’s report noted that “Philippine banks have been slow to develop new digital services, such as digital micro loans and mobile wallets, to attract new customers from the unbanked population.”

“Instead, they prefer to maintain the current business model that focuses mostly on the corporate segment and to some extent, the more affluent retail segment,” Moody’s said. “A failure to respond quickly to the emergence of fintech companies will make it more difficult for Philippines banks to acquire new customers and create new revenue sources, especially from the large unbanked population.”

Read full article on BusinessMirror

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