Grameen Foundation, J.P. Morgan deliver COVID-19 relief in the Philippines

Grameen Foundation has launched COVID-19 Relief (Response to Enhance Livelihoods of Individual Entrepreneurs and Families) in the Philippines. Supported by J.P. Morgan, the program will provide immediate relief and longer-term recovery support to 3,500 women entrepreneurs running microenterprises.

“J.P. Morgan understood early that relief and recovery of individual entrepreneurs, especially women, would be a critical step to ensuring the economic resilience of the Philippines in this time of crisis, and we are proud to partner with them on this important initiative,” said Steve Hollingworth, president and CEO of Grameen Foundation.

The enhanced community quarantine restricted local travel and stores, businesses and offices had to close, which severely impacted the livelihood of much of the population. Women microentrepreneurs, and likely primary caregivers, have found it challenging to sustain their incomes due to the lockdown.

What’s more, microfinance institutions (MFIs) that traditionally support microentrepreneurs with financial and nonfinancial services, such as access to essential health, business and government information and linkages to additional services, are also facing constraints sustaining their businesses.

“J.P. Morgan is committed to helping address the impact of COVID-19 in communities around the world. Here in the Philippines and through our partnership with Grameen Foundation, we are tackling inclusive recovery with a focus on supporting the most vulnerable individuals as they go through these difficult times,” said Carlos Ma. Mendoza, senior country officer of J.P. Morgan Philippines.

To implement this program—one of several in its overall COVID-19 Relief initiative—Grameen will target vulnerable individual female microentrepreneurs and their families located in Metro Manila and Cebu City. Grameen will collaborate with and provide technical assistance to selected partner MFIs to reach these entrepreneurs.

CIMB Bank Philippines named Best New Digital Bank in PH for 2020

CIMB Bank receives its 10th award as International Finance names it as the “2020 Best New Digital Bank Philippines.”

International Finance, a premium business and finance magazine published by United Kingdom’s International Finance Publications Limited, selected the winner based on the following criteria: strategy for attracting online customers, growth of online customers, product offerings, technology used, website design and ease of use interface.

To date, the most-awarded digital bank in the Philippines has already signed in more than 2.3 million clients since its launch in December 2018.

Among the top product features is CIMB’s value added offer for high depositors. Gsave customers with minimum balance of P100,000 in their accounts will get as high as 4.1 percent a year interest rate. On the other hand, UpSave holders with at least P100,000 in their UpSave accounts will enjoy up to 4 percent a year interest rate with free life insurance twice their average daily balance as high as P2 million.

Lamudi gives free aid

to brokers Brokers were off to a rough start in 2020, and things continued to get worse as the pandemic raged on. To aid brokers in their plight, the leading real estate platform Lamudi, which has seen the demand bounceback early in May, is also making a switch: From June 1 to June 30, uploading up to 50 RFO (ready-for-occupancy) and rental listings on Lamudi is free.

All key players in the real estate industry play a part in the sector’s recovery. For the part of brokers, this means making properties available for seekers so that they can push through with their property purchase. Through Lamudi’s offer, brokers can upload up to 50 RFO and rental listings for free until June 30 and get their properties out there for the property buyers and investors to see.

This is the platform’s response to the call of the real estate brokers and agents for help during a time of crisis. In a survey conducted by Lamudi, brokers and agents revealed the bottlenecks they experienced during the enhanced community quarantine, including problems conducting trippings and experiencing a slowdown in leads. Lamudi’s initiative helps brokers especially with the latter, allowing property seekers to see their listings when they search online.

Early in May, the demand on Lamudi has already recovered 100 percent, which is good news for brokers. If they market their listings on the right channel, they can catch high-quality leads from the Philippines and from overseas, which will aid in their recovery during the general community quarantine.

Lamudi’s Modified Enhanced Listing Offer has no strings attached. From June 1-30 brokers can post up to 50 RFO and rental listings on the platform for free. To make it even easier for brokers, Lamudi has simplified it into a two-step process: Brokers simply need to log in to their Lamudi account or register with a valid email address. Then, they can already start uploading their properties.