Firms expand financial services amid pandemic

MANILA, Philippines — Companies continue to expand and innovate the delivery of financial services through digital channels amid the mobility restrictions brought about by the  COVID-19 pandemic.

Sharoakh Charna, industry lead for FSI of Cisco APJC, said companies continued to look at technologies that made business continuity possible, and innovations to provide seamless financial services to Filipinos in the pandemic and beyond.

“[The pandemic] allowed us to realize all the transformations that we wanted to do or were holding back to do. The transition towards the better normal helped move the banking industry forward,” Charna said during Cisco’s webinar series “New Normal Trends & Opportunities for the Philippine Financial Services.”

A recent study of Southeast Asia showed that 40 million new users in the region connected to the internet last year, four times compared to 2019.

With half coming from rural locations, Charna expects the figure to grow 10 times or more by 2024.

Ariel Roda, chief information officer at Philippine Bank of Communications, said  aggressive push for digitization gave the bank a headstart when lockdown restrictions were put in place.

“Months prior to the pandemic, we’ve been able to set up a lot of alternative channels – digital and self-service – by which our customers, consumers and corporates would continue receiving our services,” Roda said.

Roda said the bank was able to communicate with clients via digital channels.

Roda cited the convenience of opening a bank account via an app in just 15 minutes compared to filling up multiple pages of physical forms.

On the other hand, mobile payment service GCash sees further growth as Filipinos move online – boasting a 1-trillion gross transaction value in 2020 or double the total of its performance in the past three years.

GCash vice president for key merchants and acquirers Ana Pascual said the company has over 27 million registered users, so much more than it was before the pandemic.

“Everyone learned how to buy their essentials online, pay their bills online.  Thankfully, we have developed these products for the convenience of people not leaving their homes to do things, and in this particular situation, that’s exactly what was called for,” Pascual said.