By Tyrone Jasper C. Piad, BusinessMirror
The state-run Credit Information Corp. (CIC) and Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) is teaming up to promote digital financial inclusion and literacy amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The country’s central credit registry and the Yuchengco-led bank said in a statement they are focusing on helping the unbanked, underbanked, and underserved population in this venture.Ads byInnity
“The pandemic did not hinder us from expanding the reach of our database to contribute to improving the overall availability of credit, especially to the Filipino working-class including micro-level, small-scale and medium-scale enterprises (MSMEs),” CIC President and CEO Aileen L. Amor-Bautista said.
CIC and RCBC, through their memorandum of understanding, are committed to pursue the said goal through the bank’s financial inclusion application DiskarTech. RCBC—which is set to become an accessing entity—is a submitting entity to CIC’s credit database.
“Dubbed as a ‘financial inclusion super app,’ it offers vital financial services needed by the unserved and underserved consumers in every barangay and enables them to be part of the local banking ecosystem,” RCBC Vice President Angelito M. Villanueva said. “We call it grassroots banking.”
Apart from serving as a payment tool, DiskarTech is also offering a 3.25-percent per annum interest in savings and cash transactions via over 30,000 partner agents. This, as it provides telemedicine to make medical services accessible online.
Equipped with an electronic know-your-customer process, Villanueva said that the mobile app allows users to create their own basic deposit accounts.
The credit registry, along with Diskartech, is set to publish digital educational materials and conduct virtual events to promote the benefits of credit reports, financial technology, digital banking and creditworthiness.
“We want to push the idea of ‘creditworthiness’ even amid the pandemic and to continuously raise awareness on the rights of consumers to access their credit reports which may serve as their reputational collateral when they try to secure credit facilities,” Amor-Bautista said.
Recently, the central credit registry announced that CIBI Information Inc., one of its accredited credit bureaus, launched a digital app where individuals may inquire about their credit report and credit score. Users may register and create an account in the CIBIApp through desktops or mobile phones.
An individual’s credit report contains consolidated positive and negative credit data, along with other relevant information submitted by the financial institutions. It also includes basic personal information, government issued IDs, address, contact details, financial contracts and credit card records, among others.
With this app, the CIC said that credit data have become more accessible to the interested entities.
Amor-Bautista said that the registry’s database has now data of 21 million borrowers and 80 million contracts from across 533 financial institutions.
“Our database includes not just those who have credit cards, but even those who are unbanked and underbanked. Slowly but surely, the CIC is realizing the inclusivity envisioned by the law,” the CIC chief added.
Source: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2020/11/09/cic-rcbc-team-up-for-financial-inclusion/