By Alithea De Jesus
As the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) launches the first ASEAN Savings Day on October 31, 2020, the Philippines together with the other member countries of the ASEAN joins this campaign.
Initiated by the Committee for Financial Inclusion that aims to raise awareness on the importance of savings. Starting this year, the celebration which coincides with the World Savings Day that was launched in 1924 by the World Society of Savings Bank to encourage people to put their savings in banks or other formal financial institutions.
In support of the ASEAN Savings Day, RCBC places DiskarTech, the forefront and only Taglish financial super app in the Philippines, as a tool to encourage the public to save, in line with its commitment to promote financial inclusion especially to the grassroots communities given the fact that there are about 70% unbanked and underserved sectors of the population.
In this trying time in the midst of the pandemic, DiskarTech believes that m0re than the awareness about the importance of saving money the Filipino can start right away without going through the cumbersome documentation and paperwork that a bank would require to open an account.
With Diskartech’s innovation, it makes savings very accessible and easy for the public. It is not only used as a payment tool for bills and purchases but most importantly it can serve as a savings account for the user. It offers 3.25% interest on savings per annum. One can save a maximum of Php 48,000 in the app. And what makes it a big hit is that it does not require a particular amount to open nor a maintaining balance.
Aside from being a payment tool, Diskartech can also be used for business. Entrepreneurial Filipinos can take advantage of the unique referral system. Through this system, they can earn extra income by asking someone to download and register using a special referral code. Users can also provide the “paki-suyo” services referring to a Filipino culture of requesting another person to do a favor on one’s behalf. These services include bills payment, prepaid smartphone loading, money transfers, insurance, telemedicine, and more. All these services are done on one’s behalf for a fee.
Savings and business go well together and all these can be done with the Diskartech App. It is becoming the preferred financial app as it hits more than three million downloads just three months from its launch.
In the survey conducted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in 2019, only 53 percent of adult Filipinos save and half of this save at home and not in banks. “With Diskartech, we can realize grassroots banking. Our aim to make banking and savings more fun with easy to understand financial terms. It fills in the gap and improves the number of those who still lack access to formal financial services,” said Lito Villanueva, Executive Vice President, and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer.
The celebration of the ASEAN Saving Day serves as a gateway for Filipinos to access different life changing and beneficial financial services and DiskarTech commits to be a partner in achieving financial freedom through Savings.