Chinese study group visits RBAP-MABS to learn about Microfinance and Mobile Phone Banking in the Philippines

August 23, 2011 By cbalingit Leave a Comment

A delegation from China visited the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines – Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (RBAP-MABS) Program on 22 August 2011 to learn about microfinance and mobile banking. RBAP-MABS welcomed the group with a multimedia presentation on the topics, including a live demonstration of the workings of mobile phone banking.

Organized and coordinated by the China International Center for Economic and Technical Exchanges (CICETE), the group was composed of representatives from Fuping Development Institute, China Association of Microfinance, CreditEase Group, Baoshang Bank and China Development Bank.

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Representatives from Sri Lanka and Thailand visit RBAP to learn about Mobile Phone Banking

July 22, 2011 By cbalingit Leave a Comment

The Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (MABS) in coordination with Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP) on its International Study Visit Program once again conducted a lecture on Mobile Phone Banking (MPB) with its partners from different parts of the globe. Participants last July 13-14, 2011 were from Thailand’s Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) as well as representatives from People’s Bank and Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

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Representatives from Venezuela and Ecuador visit the Philippines to learn about Mobile Financial Services

July 21, 2011 By cbalingit Leave a Comment

The USAID-supported Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines – Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (RBAP-MABS) program in coordination with RBAP International Study Visit Program once again organized a study tour on Mobile Phone Banking for UTIBA, the supplier of Globe’s GCASH platform and representatives from Digitel Venezuela and Grupo Mas, Coca Cola, and DIPOR from Ecuador.  Apart from visiting RBAP, the group also visited G-Xchange Inc (GXI), the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), and GM Bank from July 18-20, 2011.

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Ms. Roxana Baldetti of the Guatemalan Congress visits RBAP for mobile phone banking

June 18, 2011 By cbalingit Leave a Comment

A well-known member of the Congress of Guatemala, Ms. Roxana Baldetti, visited the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP) on June 17, 2011 to better understand how the mobile phone banking initiative through the rural banks has worked out in the Philippines, particularly in reaching out to more remote areas.

Guatemala is a country with a population of about 13.8 million – over 75 percent of which live below the poverty line. Poverty is even more severe among the rural and indigenous populations. (Source:Encyclopedia of the Nations)

Aiming to reach out to these people, Ms. Baldetti has been playing a key role in the approval of a conditional cash transfer program in Guatemala. The social benefits cash grants would be distributed electronically as mobile money by Claro Americas, with the funds to be managed by Banco de Desarrollo Rural. Ms. Baldetti shared that to promote transparency in Guatemala’s direct government cash transfer program, the information on recipients of cash aid will be accessible to anyone.

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Mongolia delegation studies Philippine mobile phone banking and mobile money platforms

May 21, 2011 By cbalingit Leave a Comment

Seventeen (17) delegates from the Bank of Mongolia, the Finance Regulatory Board of Mongolia, the Information, Communications Technology, and Post Authority, along with other Mongolia government officials participated in the RBAP International Visits Program on May 16-20. This was to learn first-hand about the uses of mobile money and mobile phone banking in the Philippines.

Mr. John Owens, Chief of Party of the USAID-supported RBAP-MABS program, introduced the delegates to the uses of mobile money and mobile phone banking practiced by Philippine rural banks.  He also shared the latest updates in the Philippine rural banking industry, as well as how mobile money and mobile phone banking are helping in the expansion of banking services to reach far-flung areas in the country. He shared how this approach and other principles practiced in the Philippines can be also applied in Mongolia. He also discussed how the Philippines’ excellent regulatory system has helped in the success of mobile phone banking.

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Multi-country delegation studies Philippine Mobile Phone Banking

March 2, 2011 By cbalingit Leave a Comment

Since the inception of the rural banks’ mobile phone banking initiative with the USAID-supported RBAP-MABS program, mobile phone banking has continued to rise and expand in the Philippines, particularly among the unbanked and underbanked in the countryside. Thus, the Philippines became one of the world’s leaders in small microfinance-oriented rural banks utilizing mobile money platforms to facilitate access to banking services. Practitioners from all over the world now regularly visit to learn from the rural banks’ experiences.

On February 28-March 1, twelve (12) representatives from Infotel in India, the Grace Kennedy Group and Digicel in Jamaica, Digicel Haiti, Meezan Bank in Pakistan and Utiba Americas visited the Philippines to take a closer look at its mobile phone banking industry, particularly the rural banks’ role in providing these services. They first visited the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP) and listened to an orientation on its Mobile Phone Banking initiative from the RBAP-MABS team.

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Nepal and Utiba study group takes a look at mobile phone banking services of rural banks

February 16, 2011 By cbalingit Leave a Comment

Delegates from Nepal Telecom, Nepal Rastra Bank, Kantipur Publications, KRS Solutions and Utiba visited the Philippines on February 14-15 to study the current mobile phone banking and mobile money services in the Philippines. The delegates were interested in how the rural banks, through the USAID-supported RBAP-MABS Program, have been implementing mobile phone banking and mobile money transfer services for their clients. Read more

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Central Bank of Namibia studies MABS Approach to mobile phone banking

November 20, 2010 By cbalingit Leave a Comment

CB of Namibia visit

Representatives from the Banking Supervision Department of the Central Bank of Namibia in South Africa visited the country on November 15-19 to study Philippine microfinance under the Knowledge Exchange Program of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). The group, headed by Department Director Romeo Nel, was eager to learn the mobile phone banking experience of the country, as well as the regulatory policies of the BSP. Also in the study group were Mr. Brian Gei-Khoibeb, Deputy Director for Payment System, and Mr. Sergio de Sousa, Payment System Analyst.

On November 18, the group visited First Macro Bank’s main office in Pateros City, as well as its other banking office (OBO) in Antipolo City. They observed the bank’s operations, visited its clients, and studied its lending procedures and mobile phone banking operations. They also witnessed how the clients paid their loan amortization using mobile phone banking through the GCASH platform. Read more>>

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Bankers from India, Nepal and Thailand study Philippine mobile banking

October 19, 2010 By cbalingit Leave a Comment

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A study group of six bankers from India, Nepal and Thailand visited the Philippines on October 11-18 to learn about mobile phone banking in the country. The delegation was composed of Mr. Kudero S. Mahadevaswamy of the Reserve Bank of India, Mr. Madhav Prasad Ghimire and Mr. Khagendra Prasad Gautam of Nepal Rastra Bank, Mrs. Doungratana Satthavorasit of Bank of Thailand, and Mrs. Puntip Pitakwasad and Mrs. Kajiphan Mcentire of the Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (Thailand).

The tour was organized by the Asia-Pacific Rural and Agricultural Credit Association Center for Training and Research in Agricultural Banking (APRACA CENTRAB), the organization’s research and training arm. APRACA is a Bangkok-based regional association that facilitates and advocates mutual exchange of information and expertise in rural finance.

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Delegates from Pacific Islands study Philippine mobile phone banking

July 2, 2010 By cbalingit Leave a Comment

A joint study group of 9 members from the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) and the Pacific Island Central Bankers visited the Philippines on June 21-23, 2010 to learn about Philippine mobile phone banking. Specifically, they were interested in the regulatory approach adopted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) for its successful implementation.

RBAP-MABS, a USAID-supported program, presented to the study group its experiences with rural banks and microfinance clients in developing and implementing its mobile phone banking initiatives using the GCASH platform. The RBAP-MABS team also shared the lessons learned over the past 5 years or so of experience. To date, there are already 62 rural banks with 906 branches offering mobile phone banking services to their clients in the countryside.

The study tour, led by Ms. Alyson Slater from Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), is composed of officials from the Reserve Bank of Fiji, Central Bank of Samoa, Reserve Bank of Vanuatu, Bank of Papua New Guinea, Banking and Payments of Timor Leste, and Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme. AFI is a global network of policymakers in developing countries that provides its members with the tools and resources to share and develop policies which promote financial inclusion.

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