Project to push mobile phone banking
THE PHILIPPINES and the United States have partnered on a new project to
increase access to financial services among Filipinos through use of
mobile phones.
"President Benigno S.C. Aquino III and US Agency for International
Development (USAID) Administrator Rajiv Shah agreed to implement the
Scaling Innovations in Mobile Money (SIMM) initiative in the
Philippines," said USAID said in a statement yesterday.
The agreement for SIMM was reached during Mr. Aquino's working visit to
the US from June 6 to 8.
"The SIMM project aims to empower Filipinos by providing easier and more
efficient access to banking and payment services through mobile phones,"
Mr. Shah was quoted as saying in the statement.
"It builds upon USAID/Philippines' current work in microfinance and
mobile banking to expand opportunity and financial services through new
technologies."
USAID is financing the Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (MABS)
that is working with rural banks in coming up with new financial
services and products. MABS and the Rural Bankers Association of the
Philippines, which groups some of the country's rural banks, have
utilized mobile phones to reach microfinance clients, who live in
far-flung areas of the country.
"SIMM is a two-year project that started last month and will run until
May 2014," said John Owens, MABS chief of party, in a phone interview
yesterday.
Key areas of the project include the payment system, government
services, and electronic payroll distribution, USAID said.
"Only 26% of Filipinos have access to formal financial channels. Out of
the 1,635 municipalities in the country, 37% or 610 municipalities do
not have access to banks," USAID noted.
The SIMM project will take advantage of mobile phones' high penetration
rate to extend financial services to Filipinos.
Results of the central bank's first Consumer Finance Survey showed only
two out of 10 Filipino households are "banked" or maintain deposit accounts.
"The success of this project will rely heavily on the participation of
the private sector. We will engage with financial institutions, mobile
network operators, small and medium enterprises, learning institutions,
non-government organizations...," said Gloria Steele, USAID Philippines
mission director, in the statement. -- A. R. R. Gregorio
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