The Camalig Bank, Inc. (A Rural Bank) has partnered with dominant financial technology firm Geniusto Philippines Inc., to bring full digital banking services in Bicol that could be a game-changer in the region’s banking space.
Currently, Camalig Bank offers a diverse selection of credit facilities including agricultural, salary, business loans for small and medium enterprises, real estate, microfinance, and personal consumption loans. With its partnership with Geniusto, the rural bank is now capable of offering all the mobile and digital banking services provided by most universal banks.
“This is a game-changer in the rural banking industry,” Shane Hermans, founder and CEO of Geniusto International. “Geniusto will provide Camalig Bank with our Omni-Channel Banking platform, which gives them the capability of leveraging an open banking framework.”
The Omni-Channel Banking uses open API (application programming interface) to simplify the payment environment while delivering frictionless digital money movement and management. It is specifically designed to support rural and thrift banks to keep things simple, speedy and secure.
Mr. Hermans explained the platform consists of a mobile and web application combining a powerful hub interfacing technology which can speed up the interaction with legacy bank systems and different service providers. The platform and the hub technology are managed effectively with a robust administrator back-end, which allows banks to create coordinated settings for the applications and utilize in-app marketing capabilities offered by the Omni-Channel banking platform for customer engagement.
Through this, rural and thrift banks will have the opportunity to evolve, penetrate and expand further via the digital channel, towards financial inclusion and education in the rural communities.
Strong dedication
Mr. Hermans attribute the strong working culture of the Camalig Bank team for their commitment to transforming a rural bank in one of the country’s most underserved areas into becoming a fully-digital financial institution.
“I was so impressed with the level of commitment to digital transformation,” Mr. Hermans said. “I’m not talking just about management but the entire team. All of them working through all hours of the night in the office to finish digital transformation workshop activities; they want to get digital done.”
With the signing of the deal, Geniusto and Camalig Bank will work closely towards the goal of achieving the Bank’s full digital transformation. As one of the first movers among its fellow rural banks, Camalig Bank sees this opportunity to leverage the leading digital banking solutions to enable the creation of new products and services and boost revenue in a cashless model in the digital space.
The Solution
A mobile application shall serve as the Camalig Bank’s flagship product built with practical and convenient account management features including bills payment, prepaid load, funds transfers, and cash in and out options via QR code. The application is tailored with a native look and feel, easy-to-use features designed for customer self-service and a mature back-end customer support accessible anytime, anywhere.
GENUISTO founder and CEO Shane Hermans (left) and Camalig Bank president and CEO Jose Misael Moraleda (right) seal their agreement with a handshake that will transform the rural bank into a major financial service provider in the Bicol region. The agreement allows Camalig to provide all the mobile and digital banking services provided by most universal banks.
“The timing couldn’t be more perfect”, said Jose Misael Moraleda, President & CEO of Camalig Bank. “This year we celebrated our 50th anniversary and as encapsulated in our tagline – Let’s Redefine Banking, this move will spearhead our efforts in asserting our commitment to continually improve and compete to provide quality and innovative products and services to the communities we serve.”
Moving forward, Hermans said Geniusto is looking to provide the same services and tools to other rural and thrift banks across the country to allow them to benefit from the technology making them competitive in the fast-changing economic environment.
ADVT