Laguna, Philippines – Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) honored its partner micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as leading advocates for financial inclusion in the provinces of Luzon during the RCBC ATM Go Gawad Kabalikat sa Negosyo 2024 Sales Rally and Regional Awards held last April 1, 2024 at The Monochrome in Nuvali, Sta. Rosa, Laguna.
A total of 100 MSMEs from Luzon received distinctions from RCBC as champions of the bank’s mission of making digital banking services accessible to Filipinos living in low-income, remote, and rural areas. The collaborative efforts of the partner merchants and RCBC yielded a whopping coverage rate of 81% of municipalities, 100% of cities, and 100% of provinces nationwide for the bank’s grassroots-oriented and bank-agnostic digital solution RCBC ATM Go. RCBC has partnered with MSMEs since the inception of RCBC ATM Go to provide additional income for enterprises, tap into the social trust that they have built with their communities, and empower them to become leading advocates of digital finance and financial literacy in their areas.
The strong and meaningful partnerships RCBC has pursued with the public sector is part of the success of RCBC ATM Go. Officials from the government graced the event and congratulated RCBC and the merchants for successfully mounting the event and expanding the financial services network in the country. The agencies highlighted the essential role the bank plays in the country’s economy, financial community, and MSME sector.
The Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) recognized the hard work of the RCBC ATM Go merchants which include cooperatives in Luzon for making financial services reachable and functional in the most remote parts of the country.
“It shows they put heart, especially empathy, at the center of their innovations, services, and culture. We congratulate all the partner merchants including cooperatives with us today, and applaud them for their efforts to bring digital finance even to the farthest of places,” the Cooperative Development Authority Region IV-A’s Senior Cooperative Development Specialist Mr. Dexter Perez said.
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) also lauded the efforts of RCBC in increasing the opportunities for MSMEs to generate additional income. The government agency also highlighted the role of RCBC in enabling entrepreneurs to enjoy convenient business transactions through the bank’s wide array of business solutions.
“Financial institutions play a big role in the success of MSMEs and the business establishment. We are happy that RCBC has expanded its ATM Go network nationwide and is now recognizing its top partners in various regions. We wish our partner RCBC the best in their initiatives,” DTI Laguna Provincial Director Mr. Christian Ted Tungohan said.
The top merchants for Luzon expressed their gratitude to RCBC for recognizing their efforts. “Ang sarap lang po sa pakiramdam na meron pong ganitong event si RCBC para sa aming mga merchant po, yung mararamdaman mo talaga na nagbubunga yung mga hardwork na ibinibigay mo sa business mo,” Ann Aubrey Angeles, one of the top merchants from San Miguel, Bulacan, said in jubilation.
“Opportunity comes in 2023, we were given this ATM Go ng RCBC and it changed our life. Minsan natutulog na kami, alas onse o alas dose ng gabi every Friday night pag gabi na dumating ang sweldo ng mga sineserbisyuhan namin, talagang nagtitiis kami kahit gabi dahil sa RCBC ATM Go. Pero dahil dun sa kinikita, nage-enjoy ka rin, nasabi namin sa sarili namin, with RCBC ATM Go, you can Go for More!,” said top merchant Engr. Andy Landicho from Batangas City.
During the sales rally, RCBC also introduced the newest features and capabilities of RCBC ATM Go that the merchants and their customers would enjoy for this year. On top of these innovative features is the acceptance of internationally-registered credit and debit cards for cash withdrawals, activation of key partners as digital lending agents in a newly approved banking campaign, expansion of billers in the bills payment section, sending cash and accepting cash payouts, cash out services through QR codes, and opening of bank accounts through the ATM Go terminals.
The expanded list of services further elevates RCBC ATM Go as a powerful equipment that bridges rural and remote communities to the global and urban ecosystem of fintech and finance. The overall goal of introducing these services to the most distant and isolated communities is to give them economic opportunities to create livelihood and expand their businesses. Most importantly, these wider opportunities enable the merchants to expand their additional sources of revenue and capital, and attract more MSMEs to join the growing community of digital finance advocates.
RCBC Executive Vice President and Chief of Innovations and Inclusion Officer Lito Villanueva addressed the champion merchants and thanked them for helping the bank’s financial inclusion drive. “RCBC ATM Go is our groundbreaking and pioneering phygital (physical-digital) blended banking solution. During the pandemic, while other banks are scrambling to shift to digital, RCBC is already there, two steps ahead, and scaling our digital services. Our ATM Go merchants strategically located all over the country greatly helped us in our march to digital and financial inclusion, empowering more of our kababayans and ensuring that “No Filipino is Left Behind,” Villanueva said.
RCBC ATM Go is one of the Philippines’ leading and topnotch multi-awarded digital solutions that has transformed communities from barren lands of stagnant growth to lush areas of opportunities through its highly innovative banking services. In 2023, the ATM Go recorded an impressive 727% year-on-year growth rate as an excess of 6,000 terminals were deployed and 2,100 partners were onboarded into the program. RCBC also announced that the forecast Compound Annual Growth Rate of the bank was at an astronomical 82% for terminals and 114% for partner-merchants. The solution is regarded as one of the most financial inclusion-centric in the country as 90% of its transactions are traced outside Metro Manila and more than 60% of the transactions are affiliated with the conditional cash transfer program of the government – Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program and with the disbursement of payroll to teachers, military and police personnel. ATM Go is also foreseen as a potential pillar of the tourism sector as terminals have been strategically stationed in high-volume tourist areas where banks are absent and ATMs are scarce.
The RCBC ATM Go Gawad Kabalikat sa Negosyo 2024 Sales Rally has four legs: Regional Awarding Ceremonies in Sta. Rosa, Laguna for Luzon; Catarman, Northern Samar for the Visayas; and Davao City for Mindanao and a National Awarding at Marquis Events Place in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. The event is made possible by the invaluable support of the bank’s partners: Malayan Insurance, RCBC Telemoney, and RCBC Credit Cards, Personal Loans, and Payment Solutions with its wide array of Digital Loan Products – RCBC Payday NOW, RCBC Salary Loan NOW and RCBC Personal Digital Loan.
RCBC emerged as the fastest-growing bank in the country, leapfrogging from eighth position in 2018 to fifth in 2023 in the list of the Philippines’ largest privately owned banks in terms of assets. Among its global and local recognitions include a four-peat award as the Philippines’ Best Bank for Digital by Asiamoney, the Eye on Innovation Award by Gartner, YouTube Challenger Award for its viral and out-of-the-box digital ad campaigns generating combined views of over 17 million, Grand Champion for Digital Payments and Financial Inclusion by the Bankers Institute of the Philippines, Number 1 in the Philippine Best Customer Service 2023 survey by the Philippine Daily Inquirer and global research firm Statista, and No 1 in system uptime according to a regional banks study by Brankas.
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