Micro-banking gets BSP backing
Philippine Daily Inquirer
12:14 am | Thursday, November 22nd, 2012
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has approved the opening of more than
400 micro-banking offices (MBOs) so far this year as it aims to trim the
number of Filipinos who still consider banking an alien concept.
MBOs are bank branches that provide "micro" financial services. They
offer small amounts of loans to micro-enterprises, accept small
deposits, provide remittance services and sell micro-insurance products.
But unlike regular bank branches, MBOs have much smaller operations and
are easier to establish because they require smaller capital, fewer
staff and smaller space.
About 100 more applications are in the pipeline for approval, according
to the central bank.
The BSP believes that MBOs will help bring financial services within the
reach of people in remote areas in the country.
The establishment of more MBOs is consistent with the goal of achieving
"financial inclusion" in the country, said BSP Deputy Governor Nestor
Espenilla Jr.
"We deliberately allowed the establishment of MBOs as a policy
innovation, to enable well-run banks to reach out to the
unbanked/under-banked people in hard-to-reach areas in the country,"
Espenilla told the Inquirer.
In a presentation made during the assembly of members of the Rural
Bankers Association of the Philippines on Tuesday, Pia Bernadette Tayag,
head of the BSP's financial inclusion staff, said that from the start of
the year to the end of August, the BSP had already approved the opening
of 459 MBOs.
She also said the BSP was expecting to approve more MBO applications
within the next few months.
Tayag said the promotion of MBOs was one the measures designed to enable
more people to gain access to banking services.
For this purpose, the rural banking sector has also started offering
electronic banking services, which can be tapped through the use of
Internet or mobile phones.
Tayag said 50 rural banks were already offering e-banking services.
Also, she said the BSP had allowed rural banks and MBOs to offer
micro-insurance products to serve the insurance needs of people in the
rural areas.
The BSP noted that a significant number of municipalities in the
country, 609 out of 1,634, remained unserved by banks. Also, about 80
percent of Filipinos do not have bank accounts, according to results of
a BSP survey.—Michelle V. Remo
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