PLDT fintech unit reaching out to unbanked Filipinos

FINTQ, the PLDT group’s financial technology (fintech) arm, seeks to bring insurance, investment and savings solutions to 30 million unbanked Filipinos by 2020 through a grassroots-based financial inclusion program KasamaKA.

Launched to veer Filipinos away from usurious informal lenders, KasamaKA enables members to earn by referring applicants to any of the digital financial services offered by Lendr, FINTQ’s digital loan platform.

Aside from lending, the program includes services such as insurance, investment and savings. The program provides a digital platform that makes the whole process fast, easy, affordable and accessible. It seeks to empower community builders by engaging them in an advocacy while giving them incentives to pursue such efforts.

“FINTQ and Voyager Innovations are committed to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) in intensively promoting the National Strategy for Financial Inclusion, and as our goal, we aim to include 30 million Filipinos into the mainstream financial system by 2020 through the KasamaKA program,” said FINTQ managing director Lito Villanueva.

Institutional partners led by the BSP, the Insurance Commission, Credit Information Corp., the Department of Trade and Industry, the National Privacy Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission have expressed support to KasamaKA, acknowledging that rapidly-evolving technologies and mobile phones can lead to greater access to financial services.

Largest government financial institution Land Bank of the Philippines also launched the country’s biggest financial inclusion caravan in partnership with KasamaKA, the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the BSP. The caravan featured modules on financial literacy to introduce participants to formal banking services as well as business and livelihood opportunities.

The caravan made its way to rural communities, such as: Kiangan, Ifugao; Moncada, Tarlac; Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo; Aragao, Cebu; Braulio E. Dujali, Davao del Norte; and Sugbongcogon, Misamis Oriental. In the first quarter of 2018, Landbank is poised to bring the caravan to Cuenca, Batangas and Pilar, Sorsogon.

“This national caravan aims to improve financial literacy, especially in rural communities that usually have to access to this kind of training. With the help of our partners such as KasamaKA, we can reach more unbanked and underserved Filipinos all over the country,” said Landbank president Alex Buenaventura said. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA