The Real value of savings

Most businesses do the usual stuff – work hard, earn and earn more. For the people behind The Real Bank, a thrift bank, the bank is not just an ordinary bank.

“Banking is a business but we did not want to be just any other business entity. We also do something for our country,” its chairman Jose Araullo told The Star in a recent interview at his office.

Trained by his father on the value of savings, Araullo said he wanted to impart to fellow Filipinos the importance of safekeeping one’s hard-earned money.

“In our case, we want to bring back or give something to our country,” Araullo said.

As such, the bank launched its “Bata…Bata…Mag-impok at Magsinop” program, in partnership with the Department of Education.

Under the program, the bank encourages the younger generation to save and eventually understand the first steps of entrepreneurship.

Araullo said it is important to start teaching kids the value of savings while they are young. This, he said, would encourage them to put up their own business when they are adults.

“You have to start with the younger kids. That is our focus. We want people to be entrepreneurs because that is what our country needs,” he said.

Araullo said that people should realize that they cannot be employees all their lives.

Under the program, Real Bank financed teaching materials which were disseminated in select schools all over the country.

The bank started with 18 schools and has since expanded the campaign to 100 schools.

The workbooks were distributed to Grades 1 and 2 students initially in the 18 schools along with teaching guides.

A total of 26,147 students received the workbooks and some 429 teachers received teaching guides during the first year of the campaign.

Araullo said the bank will further broaden this campaign as the bank grows.

The teaching materials are easy-to-read and easy-to-answer modules which provide information on the benefits of putting one’s savings in a bank. There are also illustrations to make the materials visually attractive. There are also questions to engage the students.

True to its campaign, Real Bank allows kids to open a bank account with as low as P100. The interest is 5 percent per annum if the balance increases to at least P500.

The campaign is the bank’s major advocacy for now. Araullo said the first phase is to teach kids to save while the second phase of the campaign is to teach them to be entrepreneurs.

“We want our advocacy to catch fire,” he said.

Real Bank started as a savings and loan association in 1976. A new group of owners took over in 1994 and since then, The Real Bank experienced significant growth and improvement.

It now has 24 branches and its resources have grown to P6.7 billion, data from the bank showed.

Araullo is co-founder of Punongbayan and Araullo auditing firm, currently one of the top auditing firms in the country. He has extensive experience in banking.