Yuchengco-led Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation has registered over 500% year-on-year growth in transaction count and throughput in its ATM Go digital agency banking deployment.
The RCBC ATM Go transaction count grew by 564%, from 186,000 in 2018 to 1.2 million in 2019 while throughput increased 521%, from P542 million to P3.3 billion. Majority of the transactions came from household-beneficiaries getting their regular cash grants for the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).
“This exponential growth indicates increasing consumer awareness and adoption of digital channels that provide convenience, security, and transparency,” said Lito Villanueva, RCBC executive vice president and chief innovation and inclusion officer.
RCBC ATM Go is the country’s first neighborhood ATM which enables any Bancnet ATM cardholder to withdraw cash through rural banks, sari-sari stores, drugstores, cooperatives, and microfinance institutions nationwide. Customers can also deposit cash, do balance inquiry, pay bills, transfer funds, and purchase electronic load for smartphones.
Recently, RCBC rolled out its ATM Go service at the Rural Bank of Ilog in Kabankalan, Negros Occidental to enable the rural bank to offer convenient ATM services to its customers in far-flung communities, beyond its five branches in the province.
RCBC also partnered with other members of the Negros Occidental Federation of Rural Bankers to introduce the ATM service to their clients. These include First Community Bank, First State Rural Bank, Rural Bank of Bacolod City, Rural Bank of Cadiz, Rural Bank of Escalante, Rural Bank of Manapla, Marayo Bank, Rural Bank of Sagay, Rural Bank of Silay City, and Rural Bank of Talisay.
The RCBC ATM Go roll out is part of the bank’s commitment to promote Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) thrusts on National Retail Payments System and National Strategy for Financial Inclusion.
A study of the United Nations-based Better Than Cash Alliance (BTCA) reports that the volume of e-payments usage in the Philippines grew from 1% in 2013 to 10% in 2018, while the value of e-payments rose from 8% to 20% during the same period.
“These efforts are aimed at bringing the country closer to our ultimate objective of having an inclusive payment system where no adult Filipino is left behind in terms of access to payment and other basic financial services,” said BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno.
The BSP actively promotes the use of e-payments. It launched the EGov Pay facility which enables online payment of taxes and government fees; and QR PH, which is the country’s QR Code standard that allows convenient person-to-person money transfers. The BSP pursues these initiatives with the payments industry led by the Philippine Payments Management Inc.