By Victoria “NIKE” De Dios
Photo and graphics by Ariel Obera
The current health crisis that besieged our country has restricted the movements of every individual that even essential activities are also hampered and that includes banking.
This is the reason why a lot of businesses have to embrace the valuable contribution and convenience of technology as touchless, efficient, and secure transactions are now a necessity more than a luxury.
The Rural Bank of Guinobatan, Inc. (RBGI) recently launched the Asenso Mobile App for the primary purpose of not breaking location barriers to reach more people and be able to provide financial services to the needy, but also address issue about access, reliability, and regulatory needs enabling more businesses and individual in the rural areas benefit from this.
The Asenso Mobile App hopes to provide local business owners easy access to RBGI’s financial services. Clients can easily open and monitor their bank accounts, and receive from or transfer money to other accounts anytime, anywhere, and from any digital device.
The first rural banking mobile app in the whole of the Bicol region, this innovation is a fitting match for MSMEs as it will play a significant role in the times to come.
Engr. Paulo Honrado, RBGI president and lead visionary whose passion for financial inclusivity, collaboration, and digital transformation sets the direction for the bank’s services and innovations, said. “We are very proud of this product. This is the beginning of a long-term innovation map to transform the lives of the countryside for the years to come.”
Rising above the challenges of the pandemic, RBGI pioneered a Bicol rural banking first that highlights features allowing for convenient, smooth, and low-touch transactions right at one’s fingertips. “The growing smartphone usage even in our locality inspired us to further push and break barriers. Our small towns are ready now more than ever to experience the elevated banking experience that they deserve,” he pointed out.
Like the name suggests, Asenso Mobile APP’s core purpose is to raise the bar of rural banking experience, and uplift users with a seamless end to end banking journey. The mobile app is QR code-powered which helps lessen manual service processes. In just one click, the user can easily open and manage an account, and allows him to easily avail bank services like fund transfers, remittances, bills payment, e-loading, and even insurance. It is available for current and prospective bank clients and may be downloaded via the Google Playstore.
RBGI has been a prominent force in Bicol’s rural banking scene in its 56 years of existence. The last five years paved the way for the fruition of the bank’s vision, realizing steady growth in assets and profitability as it posted a 42% growth in resources, 77% increase in net income, and 40% in deposits, solidifying the organization’s stability.
“The mobile app may be a small tool, but we believe in the lasting impact it will leave on our customers’ lives,” Honrado added.
The rural banking innovator acknowledged that markets, technology, customers, and products are ever changing, and that the future is bringing competition to a high level. He noted that it is important “for us to be on our toes, and keep up with the changes, to be able to empower the community that we serve.”
Honrado’s leadership paved the way for business growth, and more importantly, consumer dynamics that is yet to be seen in the rural banking sphere.
In 2003, RBGI started its Microfinance Program, catering to micro-entrepreneurs. The program was designed to address the need of the Philippine low-income and micro-enterprise sector to gain access to a wide range of financial services, ensuring participation in a growing economy in line with the bank’s vision of being the government’s partner in countryside development. To date, over 11,000 Bicolanos have already benefited from this program, strengthening their capacity to earn a living and build a path out of poverty for themselves and their families.
Several partnerships geared towards financial inclusion came to life under Paulo Honrado’s leadership including 4Ps with DSWD wherein they provided over-the-counter service transactions for conditional cash grants.
The Farmer Entrepreneurship Program (FEP), in partnership with the Jollibee Group Foundation, was directed at smallholder farmers, empowering them to improve their income by linking them to the supply chain of institutional markets. In 2015, this was supplemented by Entrefarm (Entrepreneurial Farmer Loan) or locally known as the Magsasaka Loan which trained farmers on latest farming technologies, eventually organizing them into agro-enterprise cluster for the purpose of consolidating supply and pooling logistics that have direct access to credits as well as broker direct supply with farmer groups and institutional markets. This program enabled small farmers to refocus production-based effort into an agro-enterprise development program in consonance with the world vision of food sufficiency.
Honrado added, “I look back and see how far we’ve come, and this further ignites my desire to push for more service innovations that will greatly impact lives.”
Rural Bank of Guinobatan, Inc. (RBGI) is the leading rural bank in the Bicol region, with four branches spread across Albay and Sorsogon. The Asenso Mobile APP is RBGI’s first mobile banking app, available for Android phone users, and may be downloaded via the Google Playstore. For more information, visit www.rbguinobatan.com