This Pinoy company is making an impact through financial technology
HONG KONG, China — “This business model is actually based on serendipity.”
This was how GoodBank co-founder Jove Tapiador described how their mission as a financial technology company started.
GoodTech Information Systems Inc., the parent company overseeing GoodBank, was notably the only Filipino company featured in the startups segment of the Asian Financial Forum held in Hong Kong last January 24 to 25.
The company, founded in 2020, was inspired to mobilize digitalization and address key pain points for rural banks in the Philippines.
“We started by looking at transforming and [digitizing] rural banks. Along the way we discovered a number of pain points, one of which is how to improve their credit process," Tapiador said.
To solve these challenges, GoodBank developed a digital platform aimed at streamlining operations for partner banks in a secure and compliant manner.
A pandemic project
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, Tapiador said that this gave them the opportunity to catch up with other rural banks who were already in the market.
There were also logistical challenges that the company had to work through in the course of launching their product.
“Number one was the pandemic, obviously, you cannot go out and do your deals face to face. So we had to do it digitally online," Tapiador said.
After becoming fully operational in 2021, GoodBank was able to secure a status of being a Minimum Viable Product that allowed their product to be offered to rural banks in 2023.
Leveraging technology
Initially, the company had to identify the kind of landscape that they were dealing with and subsequently match this need with the available technology.
“We need to have faster, better processes that [are] compliant and secure. We offer that and that's the basic building block of our solution.” the bank’s cofounder said.
Because of this effort to digitize operations, they are now able to help their partner banks to reach out to more consumers without them having to physically go to the branch.
Tapiador also emphasized trust as a crucial factor when engaging with financial services and institutions as these companies operate within highly regulated environments, prompting careful consideration before venturing into the realm of FinTech.
“You have trust, and also the confidence that your products need to provide an answer for the pain points,” he added.
Looking ahead
With the rapid development of technology, specifically in the area of financial services, there is a bigger opportunity to expand reach a wider market.
As a business that relies heavily on internet connectivity, Tapiador acknowledged that branching out to far-flung locations in the Philippines may be difficult for now. However, he is not closing future opportunities just yet.
“We will work first where there is connectivity. And that allows for faster adoption. However, having said that, we are developing mobile applications, downloadable applications, even while offline.” he said.
When the time comes for it, Tapiador said that there will be expansions in terms of what the company offers.
“As long as there's a need to connect financial institutions, whether banks or non banks with target markets, we will be there.”
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