The Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) is the Philippines’ Best Digital Bank in the recently concluded 15th Alpha Southeast Asia’s Best Financial Institution Awards 2021.
RCBC is among the 12 awardees from the Philippines, besting several other competitors for the said category. This is the second Best Digital Bank in the Philippines award from Alpha Southeast Asia for RCBC after the bank also won the same recognition last year.
Alpha Southeast Asia is the only institutional investment and transactional banking magazine focused on Southeast Asia. The magazine produces articles on Southeast Asia for Europe and US-based investors and other investors based across the region. On its 15th year, the awards focused on how banks, brokers, and other financial institutions have managed to their liquidity and capital positions robust, embracing fintech and accelerating the digital shift amid the COVID-19 pandemic. These factors on top of the annual performance make this year’s awards more in-depth with a tighter eligibility rule for the participants.
“We are honored to have been hailed as the best digital bank in the Philippines by the Alpha Southeast Asia Awards for two consecutive years now. The COVID-19 pandemic is bringing out the best in the industry players, and we believe this is a good time to combine our efforts in order to promote digital acceleration and financial inclusion at the same time. We hope to inspire and lead by example not only in our country but in the region as a whole,” said Eugene Acevedo, President and CEO of RCBC.
“The scale in consumer adoption of these digital services greatly contributes to our collective journey towards a cash lite digital economy. Our innovation for inclusion continues,” said Lito Villanueva, Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer of RCBC.
RCBC continues to achieve exponential growth in its major digital services. This May 2021, the bank’s InstaPay and PESONet transactions increased by 239% and 555% respectively, versus same period last year. While cardless ATM withdrawal done through RCBC mobile app grew by 831% versus a year ago. The massive digital adoption even saw RCBC’s five-year online banking transaction volume capacity plan breached as early as 2020 according to Nilo Zantua, RCBC’s chief technology officer.
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 and by the Asiamoney and the Alpha Southeast Asia in 2020, 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 mobile apps RCBC Mobile and DiskarTech. Its digital products include RCBC mobile and online banking, handheld ATM Go mobile point-of-sale terminals, and DiskarTech, among others. 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.