RCBC banks on technology to double client base in 5 yrs

MANILA, Philippines - Banking on its technological edge, Rizal Commercial and Banking Corp. (RCBC) is aiming to nearly double its client base to 12 million in the next five years.

RCBC first vice president Emmanuel Mari Valdes said the expansion in the number of their clients would hinge on more traditional depositors and those using electronic platforms.

“In today’s retail market, technology is the key,” Valdes said in a press briefing Thursday. The commercial bank of the Yuchengco Group has a depositor base of seven million.

He said the use of technology allows the bank to better connect and transact with the retail or consumer market.

A large number of the bank’s consumer market are classified as Generation X or Gen Y, best described as technology friendly. Valdes said these are mostly college students or young professionals who do not like going to a bank branch.

“They transact their business online, mobile and cards. They are always connected through the Internet, using laptops, tablet and smartphones,” he said.

The use of technology speeds up retail bank transactions and reduces bank costs.  It increases bank activities with the clients as bank products become more convenient.

Recently, RCBC launched Touch Q Management System, a self-service teller assist kiosk that is technology-driven designed to reduce the transaction time in retail branch transaction such as deposit.

It is a machine within a branch that allows the client to manually punch in transactions instead of manually writing on slips.

“From an average six minutes transaction time to make a deposit, it was reduced to 3.5 minutes,” Valdes said, adding they have introduced a mobile app that would further reduce it to less than two minutes.

Another way of reaching the target 15-million bank customers is to establish partnerships with merchants to expand its distribution channels for its credit and debit card business, not to mention remittances from overseas Filipinos. These include Mercury Drug stores, Palawan Pawnshop outlets, LBC branches, Goldilocks, Cavitex, among others.