By Vernon Velasco, Daily Tribune
Universal bank Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) is accelerating financial inclusivity with its DiskarTech, the country’s first banking super app that allows more accurate understanding of the untapped segments.
This came after the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas estimated that about 70 percent of the adult population remains “unbanked” or “underserved,” a sector that have no credit score.
“This is a problem that we’re trying to solve because we know that most banks and financial institutions will only allow lending to people who have credit profiles,” said RCBC executive vice president and chief Innovation and inclusion officer Lito Villanueva.
DiskarTech’s data analytics perform complex analyses to extract consumer insights that allow for an alternative credit-scoring for the unbanked and underserved, according to Villanueva in his guesting in the regular “Straight Talk” program of the Daily Tribune.
Features of DiskarTech include various financial services, like savings, transfers, withdrawals and deposits, bills payment, insurance, loans and telemedicine.
More features soon
RCBC says more features will be introduced soon, including micro-insurance, and skills marketplace for enterprising Filipinos to help promote their businesses.
Through DiskarTech, RCBC has digitally enabled some 1.3 million sari-sari store owners across the country. Also, the diversified customer loan portfolio of RCBC continued to expand by 13 percent to P446.4 billion, led by small and medium enterprises and consumer loan segments, which registered year-on-year growth of 23 percent and 13 percent, respectively.
RCBC likewise boosted the features of its mobile banking application, which now includes digital end-to-end account opening, card-less ATM withdrawal, and sending cash remittances to partners.
Important functions such as payments, collections, and check warehousing were digitized to support its corporate clients to continue with their business operations.
Tapping these technologies, the Bank noted a surge in usage and peso value of electronic fund transfer services, PESONet and InstaPay, during the first half of 2020 among new and existing customers.
But will there be more branches along the way?
“I think the name of the game right now is how to make that particular mobile device in the hands of every Filipino to be the bank branch, the core of everything that they do in their lives — may it be financial, lifestyle or communication,” Villanueva said.
Source: https://tribune.net.ph/index.php/2020/09/17/rcbc-taps-tech-for-unbanked/