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BDO Unibank Inc., the country’s largest lender in terms of assets controlled by the Sy family, said Thursday it teamed up with American Express to bring the latter’s Shop Small movement in the country to support local businesses badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Together with BDO, we are bringing Shop Small to the Philippines to lend our support to local businesses. They are such an important part of our lives, and they have been particularly affected by the pandemic,” Sanjiv Malhotra, vice president and general manager of global network services, Southeast Asia and South Pacific of the American Express, said in a statement Wednesday.
“We want to play our part to support them and we hope our Shop Small movement encourages everyone to support their local businesses,” Malhotra said.
Started in 2010 in the United States, American Express’ Shop Small is a movement to celebrate the contributions local businesses make to their communities and the economy, and to encourage shoppers to support them.
Since then, it has been introduced in countries around the world including Singapore, Australia, the United Kingdom, India and Japan.
Ma. Nannette Regala, BDO senior vice president and consumer banking marketing head, said Shop Small is one of the ways BDO can support local businesses in the country.
“With this initiative, we’re encouraging Filipino shoppers to do their share and help small and medium enterprises bounce back. Every spend can help make a difference,” she said.
To encourage shoppers to show their support for local businesses, BDO and American Express are launching a special Shop Small offer of 5x Rewards for purchases made at participating Shop Small merchants using BDO-issued American Express Cards from March 15 to June 30, 2021.
With over 1,000 merchant locations, ranging from retail shops, restaurants and specialty stores, reward points earned can be used to redeem a reward of choice from a selection of gift certificates, gadgets, appliance, air miles and more.
BDO is a full-service universal bank that provides a wide range of corporate and retail banking services.