BanKO expands deposit, loan base

MANILA, Philippines - BPI Globe BanKO (BanKO) has expanded its deposit base to P1.1 billion and its transactional loan portfolio to P180 million in end of September 2015, relying principally on mobile technology.

BanKO is a thrift bank that utilizes mobile technology to extend credit and bring banking to the unserved and under-served population.

BanKO president and chief executive officer John M. Rubio said the thrift bank has a 1.1-million customer base with a transactional level of 10- to 15 percent monthly, or a 25- to 30 percent on a quarterly basis, which is considered high on a regional basis.

But for the mobile-based thrift bank, there is even more to be done.

“We have to accelerate more, we have to grow faster than the gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of the Philippine economy,” Rubio said.

He said the targets are still the same, e.g., the unbanked, the under-banked or those with no access or limited access to banks or credit.

What they want to attain is the simplification of the mobile banking experience.

Through the GCash platform, which BanKO is using, one is able to convert cash remittances from overseas Filipinos as well as pay utility bills.

The plan is to introduce apps (applications) instead of just relying on US dollar platforms, to make it easier for anyone to pay utility bills as simple as buying airtime (load) in a sari-sari store.

In fact, BanKO wants the millions of sari-sari stores transformed not only as a place to buy load, among others, but to be come financial or payment centers.

Rubio however explained that making apps to simplify the experience of mobile banking requires a lot of complexities in the back end.

The “secret sauce” is a company that takes care of all these complexities, like Mynt, the financial technology (fintech) arm of Globe Telecoms.

Ideally, the customer just wants to press one or two buttons to be able to transfer payments to a person, to a government agency. They simply want to press a “buy” or “pay” button, and that’s it.

Last August, the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) acquired the 40-percent stake of Globe Telecoms and the 20-percent stake of Ayala Corp. to become the sole owner of BanKO. It already controlled the remaining 40 percent equity stake.

BPI realized that there is a viable way of reaching the country’s pyramid base, and provide them access to capital.

With the acquisition of BanKO, BPI underscores its commitment to inclusive growth.

BPI president and chief executive officer Cesar P. Consing said that BanKO has reached the point where it represents a real life-line to Filipinos who otherwise would not have access to banking services.

“Over the next few months, we will be in the process of transitioning BanKO within the BPI group and it is our goal to continue providing the highest level of service to BanKO’s customers,” Consing said of the acquisition.

Instead of branches, BanKO operates through a network of 2,500 partner outlets or establishments, like pawnshops, where a bank client can transfer cash, deposit or withdraw loan.

Some of the popular partners are the nationwide network of Tambunting pawnshops, CVM pawnshop, Generika drugstores, Czarina foreign exchange, and Raquel pawnshops.

Globe’s 7,000 cash-in, cash-out nationwide network for acquiring airtime or remitting or sending cash or payments, are also BanKO partner outlets.

It utilizes the GCash mobile platform and its mobile ATM cards.