Tanzanian microbankers visit Phl

MANILA, Philippines - Tanzanian development bankers were in the Philippines to observe microfinance and microinsurance in action.

Representatives from the Cooperatives Rural and Development Bank Microfinance Services Company Ltd. (CRDB) of Tanzania were the guests of the Rural Bankers Association of Philippines–Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (RBAP-MABS) program to obtain lessons from Philippines rural banks in implementing microfinance, microinsurance and mobile phone banking.

 CRDB Microfinance Services Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of CRDB Bank Plc, offers wholesale microfinance services by providing tailor made products and services that address financial needs of different communities in Tanzania.

CRDB plans to go into retail microfinance and design more catered products reaching the formerly ‘unservable’ market niche.

 This would eventually align their outreach strategies together with technological advancements, knowledge of specific market segment and continuous development of internal capacities to achieve maximum impact to businesses and the communities they serve.

Part of the visit of the CRDB directors and management was an observation and information trip to Bangko Kabayan, one of the RBAP-MABS participating bank.  

Teresa Ganzon, the managing director of Bangko Kabayan Inc., shared insightful first hand experiences of the bank.

Also on hand to brief the visiting microbankers were representatives of the Country Bankers Life Insurance Corp. As one of the leading microinsurance advocates, Country Bankers Life representatives imparted how they were able to devise relevant insurance products to extend their services to the entrepreneurial poor people.

Bangko Kabayan has 16 branches all over the Batangas province and has been a RBAP-MABS participating bank since 2001.

In 2000, the bank started to offer its microfinance products such as individual and group loan products for microentrepreneurs. In 2009, it included housing loans in its product portfolio. It currently serves 9,681 microfinance borrowers with an outstanding microfinance loan portfolio of more than P105 million.

 Bangko Kabayan is also one of the three banks to be licensed by the Insurance Commission (IC) and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to market, distribute and sell microinsurance products. The following year, it collaborated with Country Bankers Life to improve access on insurance options of its microenterprise clients and to cover the microfinance loan portfolio of the bank. 

As one of the partner-insurers of RBAP-MABS, Country Bankers Life has provided insight into the needs and preferences of low-income clients, based on a market assessment study conducted by RBAP-MABS in 2009.  

Lessons from the study led to the collaborative effort of Bangko Kabayan and Country Bankers to expand insurance coverage to benefit microenterprise households served by the bank.

As of June 2011, 15 of its branches has distributed microinsurance products to 1,568 principal/policy holders and their 5,331 dependents.