RCBC
Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation’s strategy of using its digital prowess to do good in the Philippines is what captures Asiamoney’s attention the most this year.
Under the leadership of Eugene Acevedo, chief executive and president of RCBC, the bank had disbursed more than $293 million in financial aid on the part of the government, benefitting roughly 4.1 million low-income families, or nearly 21 million individuals in 72 of the nation’s provinces, as of May 2021. Cash was handed out through RCBC partner rural banks, cooperatives, microfinance institutions, retail stores and even pawnshops. As it led the first large private-sector initiative of the pandemic era to disburse much-needed government aid, RCBC discovered places where its digital banking capabilities could gain greater traction.
Before the pandemic, about 71% of adult Filipinos, or 51.2 million people, were unbanked, and only 10% of them were using digital apps. It has long been a goal of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to change that narrative. From 1% in 2015, the central bank had hoped to drive digital banking rates to 20% by 2020.
RCBC