MONDAY, 02 APRIL 2012 01:58
TECHNOLOGY is a friend to the country's rural lenders who count on
so-called application-to-person or A2P text messages as added service to
hard-to-reach clients often ignored by the big boys of the industry.
A2P messages are automated messages sent by a software application to
mobile phones and takes advantage of the fact that while 40 percent of
municipalities in the country still do not have a bank that services
their financial requirements, almost all Filipinos own a mobile phone.
According to Ian Pama, President at the Rural Bankers Association of the
Philippines or RBAP, A2P messages are often used for general alert
purposes but are used in this case for linking clients to the various
aspects of mobile banking.
Mobile banking in the Philippines has allowed even the unbanked to
participate and have access to banking services that previously cost an
arm and a leg if these are available at all.
"Mobile phones have been converted into payment platforms to help
address the banking needs of consumers in rural areas," Pama said.
"With the expected boom in A2P messaging in the coming years, rural
banks will be presented with more incentives to fully utilize mobile
banking and make it as one of their primary services going forward," he
said.
Mobile banking and new technological innovations such as A2PP "help fill
in the gaps in a way that is cost-effective for both rural banks and our
customers," Pama added.
RBAP is also looking to capitalize on the projection of a strong growth
in the mobile banking business this year, driven by the continuous
flexibility of carriers to adapt according to market needs.
"Now, more than ever, we should use mobile banking to reach out to our
clientele and deliver our service to them. If the prognosis of research
firms is correct, then we should ride this wave as much as we can," Pama
said. "RBAP has long been an active proponent of mobile banking. But
with forecasts backing us up, they give the association's vision more fuel."
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) research firms see a big
jump in the Philippine mobile banking industry this year. Based on its
2012 predictions for the Asia Pacific Region, ICT research firm XMG
Global, founded and headed by Filipino-Canadian Lauro Vives, said the
region will be the world's fastest growing mobile and broadband market
with over 3 billion connections this year.
According to XMG, the growth will be driven by three factors: continuous
efforts of telecommunications companies to invest an average of 17.4
percent of revenues into capital expenditures to meet emerging demand;
variety and flexibility of payment and billing schemes; and low-cost
handsets.
In the Philippines alone, Smart Communications Inc. and Globe Telecoms
Inc. are investing close to P100 billion to upgrade their networks.
--Jun Vallecera
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