By Alithea De Jesus
Does language play a crucial role in financial inclusion? Would the use of the native tongue be more effective for financial institutions to reach out to people they serve? This is just one of the many interesting topics lined-up for ‘Pisonomics’, the first and only podcast on financial inclusion and digital literacy in the Philippines. It was launched on October 29, 2020 by Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) and DiskarTech, in partnership with PumaPodcast.
Financial inclusion is empowering people. It enables people to have the ability and tools to manage and save their hard-earned money. It is an important factor in achieving economic growth, stability and sustainability. Empowered by financial technology, financial inclusion would have positive impact to the masses especially to the unbanked grassroots sectors as this would trigger poverty reduction, income equality or even employment generation. Through financial inclusion the masses will have convenient access to financial services.
“We continue to optimize all digital platforms to connect to our growing digital-savvy population. The Pisonomics podcast empowers people with knowledge and skills to be financially literate and leverage the full potential of financial products and services and providing them financial freedom”, said Lito Villanueva, RCBC executive vice president and chief innovation and inclusion officer.
Through Pisonomics, people would learn about financial concepts like investment and risks, compounding interest, insurance and a lot more. Among the experts who shared their insights include Pia Roman-Tayag, managing director of the Center for Learning and Inclusion Advocacy of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Vladimeir Gonzales, assistant professor at the University of the Philippines-Diliman Department of Filipino, Liezel Constantino, second year college student from Simanu Norte, San Pablo, Isabela. Also featured from an old news report included Virgilio Almario, National Artist for Literature and Diwa Guinigundo, retired BSP deputy governor.
With Pisonomics giving the financial know-how, DiskarTech, the first and only Taglish financial super-app in the Philippines in turn would be the instrument to apply all the financial principles and services. Aside from being used as a payment tool, DiskarTech can also serve as a savings account offering a 3.25% per annum interest on savings, cash-in and cash-out transactions through over 30,000 partner-agent locations, one-stop shop for utility bills payment. Once could also do business through purchase of mobile phone load and e-gaming pins. What makes DiskarTech a standout is that it offers income and life protection through the purchase of affordable insurance products. Also, one of the best and unique features of this super app is the Telemedicine where you can avail online medical services.
The COVID19 pandemic might have affected millions of people not only in terms of health but also economically but financial inclusion tools like DiskarTech opens a promising financial opportunity to the masses.
The podcast can be found on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Anchor, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts.