By Alithea De Jesus
A strong believer in listening and understanding the needs of their customer, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation’s (RCBC) rolls out ATM Go, the country’s first neighborhood ATM which has the most extensive reach among geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas (GIDAs).
This innovative solution is another first in the industry – the pioneering cardless withdrawal for mobile point-of-sale terminals (mPOS) as part of the bank’s commitment to digital innovation and financial inclusion.
Aside from the regular ATM services that requires an ATM Card, ATM Go can now process cardless withdrawals via other RCBC mobile apps. Transactions can be initiated via RCBC online mobile app or through the DiskarTech financial inclusion app. Customers simply need to log into their RCBC Online or DiskarTech account and choose the cash withdrawal option in order to initiate the transaction. A reference number and OTP will be sent to the user which they will then use to withdraw money from any ATM Go partner merchant.
This expansion of RCBC’s cardless withdrawal service to ATM Go is also inspired by the 597-percent total transaction growth of the same service via RCBC’s DiskarTech.
ATM Go remains one of the most used platforms for government disbursements, servicing even the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps beneficiaries, among others. It has partner rural banks, microfinance institutions, cooperatives, retail stores and other establishments in 73 out of 81 provinces in the Philippines, servicing the largely untapped segment of customers living in the far-flung and mostly inaccessible regions.
With the recent addition of Kalinga in the Cordillera Region and Biliran in Eastern Visayas in its deployment of mPOS, the platform effectively covers 90 percent of the country’s provinces and 85 percent of the country’s poorest provinces. The presence of ATM Go in these areas helps stimulate economic activity that aids the country’s pandemic recovery.
In 2020, RCBC spearheaded the first large-scale disbursement of government aid to its beneficiaries through Ayuda Arangkada via the same payout mechanism. RCBC was able to disburse P 12.4-B worth of financial aid from the government’s social amelioration program. Around 3.3 million low-income families or 16.6 million individuals benefitted from the partnership.
Such innovations earned RCBC accolades from various regional and international institutions. The 15th Alpha Southeast Asia Best Financial Institution Awards recently named RCBC as the Philippines’ Best Digital Bank, noting that the bank’s unadulterated focus on creating long-term value for its stakeholders by balancing growth with stability makes it a leading player in the digital banking industry. ATM Go was given special mention for its innovative solution in terms of getting the unbanked and underserved segment of the population into the formal financial system.
RCBC is one of the leading universal banks accelerating digital transformation in the Philippines. It was judged as the Philippines’ best retail bank in the 2021 Global Banking and Finance Review Awards. It is also the best digital bank for Business Tabloid in 2021, by the Asiamoney in 2020, and by the Alpha Southeast Asia for 2020 and 2021, among other global and regional recognitions. It is also the first local universal bank to have the most extensive reach with registered customers from across all 81 provinces nationwide through its two other digital products RCBC Mobile and DiskarTech. DiskarTech was recognized as the 2020 breakout finance app in the country by App Annie, a global data analytics firm covering all mobile applications worldwide.
