The Social Security System and Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. have partnered to make every SSS member, including the farmers and fisher folk, become part of the financial system through the UMID pay cards at the SSS main office in Quezon City.
SSS President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Regino and RCBC president and CEO Eugene Acevedo led the signing ceremonies of a memorandum of agreement that shall authorize RCBC to issue UMID pay cards to SSS members.
SSS welcomed RCBC, one of the country’s leading universal banks, as its newest partner in producing UMID pay cards.
Regino said RCBC would start issuing the cards to SSS members in the first quarter of 2023.
“SSS and RCBC are already in the process of systems integration, and we are looking forward to rolling it out early next year,” he revealed.
Aside from being a valid government-issued ID, the UMID pay card would also serve as an ATM card since it would be linked to the member’s chosen Bank account, such as the RCBC savings account.
It does not require starting and maintaining balance and would be the default disbursement account where the proceeds of their SSS benefits, and loan, would be readily credited.
“We are looking forward to a meaningful partnership with RCBC as SSS moves toward the financial inclusion of our members, especially those from the agricultural and fishing sector of our society as well as all workers in the informal economy. We are hoping that with this union which is only IDs will already have their UMID pay cards,” Regino cited.
Generally, most Filipinos do not have a bank account because they lack identification requirements such as a valid ID or enough money to open a bank account, the SSS said.
Apart from the MOA, SSS and RCBC officials also signed the confidentiality and non-disclosure Agreement and data sharing agreements to protect the biometric data and personal information of SSS members to be used in producing the UMID pay cards.
