Philippines fintech targets under-served rural banks with cloud solutions
Philippines fintech PearlPay has launched a pilot program to test cloud-based financial services for the country's severely under-served rural banking sector.
The first bank to sign up is BHF Rural Bank, based in Dagupan City and running seven branches. This will be the first time a Philippine rural bank will use cloud-based technologies for its core banking solutions (CBS), agent banking solutions (ABS) and white-label eWallet solutions, all of which have been created by PearlPay to serve customers with limited or no access to the Internet.
Armand Bonifacio, president of BHF bank said, “Previously, it was nearly impossible for rural banks to become part of the e-money landscape. The foremost concern is, of course, cost. It’s too expensive and risky for us. PearlPay will help us solve that challenge. Their framework gives us the much needed jump to pursue our digital transformation. PearlPay is one of, if not, the most promising enablers out there.”
PearlPay CEO Spark Perreras adds that, “Millions of Filipinos remain unbanked or underserved. While this remains a challenge for economic growth, it also presents an opportunity for organizations to tackle the problem. In the previous survey of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), only around 23 percent of Filipinos have access to formal financial products and PearlPay aims to improve the economic inclusion rate in the Philippines."
The survey also found that 94 percent of Philippine rural banks do not have access to electronic money, a figure that underlines the massive opportunity for fintechs like PearlPay. For example, rural bank customers still don't have access to online banking, even for simple transactions like paying bills. They must line up at a bank branch to withdraw cash and pay their paper bills.
As an end-to-end solutions (E2ES) provider for financial institutions, PearlPay provides all the software, hardware and technical expertise, so the customer does not need to find other providers to meet their requirements.
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