EIGHT banks (RBs) will pioneer SynerFi, an open payments platform operated by technology firm higala.ph, in a few weeks, but 12 more will join within the year, boosting the government’s bid to include more people in the digital financial system.
The eight banks that are already onboarded into the SynerFi system are Rural Bank of San Antonio, Inc., with branches in Southern Luzon; Rural Bank of Lipa City (Batangas), Inc.; Progressive Rural Bank, Inc., which have branches in Laguna and Batangas; Banco Abucay, Inc. from Bataan; Rural Bank of Hermosa (Bataan), Inc., Money Mall Rural Bank, Inc. from Compostela Vallley; First Philippine Partners, Bank, Inc. (A Rural Bank) from Cebu; and Lagawe Highlands Rural Bank, Inc. from Ifugao.
Winston Damarillo, president and chief executive officer of Higala.ph, in a briefing Wednesday, said rural banks are a vital component of the economy, thus, enabling them to utilize open payments platform will allow RBs serve more people, especially in the countryside, in line with the government’s financial inclusion bid.
“This marks the beginning of empowering the underserved banking sector by enabling them to offer digital banking services that are otherwise available only to mainstream and traditional banks,” he said.
“It will bring a bit more democratization of the access to economic services,” he added, citing also eventual decline in fees and rates for lending products, among others.
This initiative is being implemented with the help of Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC), a digital challenger bank.
Lito Villanueva, executive vice president and chief innovation and inclusion officer of RCBC, during this same event, said the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has been pushing for digitalization among banks but only 5 percent of the 358 RBs are participants to the InstaPay, a component of the central bank’s National Retail Payment System (NRPS) launched in 2018.
InstaPay is a real-time electronic fund transfer service that allows the transfer of up to P50,000 per transaction.
Citing statements from RB officials, he said a rural bank branch has about 2,000 to 10,000 clients who will benefit from the open payments system.
“The bottom line is having to level the playing field, democratize access to digital payments, and making sure every Filipino, every Juan or Juana Dela Cruz in our geographically isolated areas will be able to enjoy and benefit the advantages of going digital,” he added. (PNA)
