THE country’s two telecommunications service providers have done much to improve the awareness of mobile banking among Filipinos, but more needs to be done, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

Smart Telecommunications and Globe Telecom have reported they now have more than 7 million registered clients between them, the central bank said. These clients use their mobile phone for bank transactions. Smart is the wholly owned mobile-phone subsidiary of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. Globe is the Philippines’ second-largest mobile-phone company, with Ayala Corp. and Singapore Telecom International Pte. Ltd. its principal shareholders.

Their combined penetration rate when it comes to mobile banking is noteworthy, but the central bank said the Philippines remains one of the least banked countries in the world.

Deputy BSP Governor Nestor Espenilla said the Philippines has a large bankable but largely unbanked population.

“Over 90 percent of adults in industrialized economies typically have accounts in financial institutions compared to penetration rates as low as 6 percent in developing countries.

“In the Philippines, only 12 percent of survey respondents in small cities had bank accounts,” Espenilla said.

The BSP conducts its consumer-expectations survey every three months. The results are mined for related statistical gems to help the policymaking Monetary Board craft appropriate policy plans and programs.

Espenilla noted that close to 97 percent of all enterprises in the country are micro in nature and that more than 4 million families who belong to the lowest income strata are microentrepreneurs.

He cited the numbers to highlight the “bankable” population that remains “unbanked” to this day.

And for all the success that both Globe and Smart have achieved in the realm of mobile financial services, there are at least 47 municipalities in the country that continue to have no access whatsoever to any form of financial services, according to Espenilla.

“Our data show we have a low usage of bank services, but that does not mean low demand for bank services,” he said.

For this reason he said the BSP—which actively supports several advocacy programs that include financial education, as well as consumer and economic protection—would push “beyond our advocacy on microfinance.”

“There are now more institutions that utilize multichannels to deliver a wider range of financial services to reach more people, including those who were previously excluded from the system and remain unbanked,” Espenilla said.

The BSP endeavors to mainstream microfinance via the series of circulars since the General Banking Act passed in 2000.

MANILA is set to draw $47 million, or P2 billion, worth of loans from a number of overseas governments and has obtained regulatory approval to draw $10 million or P455 million from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec).

BSP wants awareness on mobile banking raised

THE country’s two telecommunications service providers have done much to improve the awareness of mobile banking among Filipinos, but more needs to be done, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

LandBank to buy P50M of notes from Isabela bank

LAND BANK of the Philippines has signed an agreement with First Isabela Cooperative Bank (Fico Bank) to buy P50 million worth of unsecured subordinated notes to beef up the rural lender’s capital base under the Basel 2 standards, the bank said yesterday.

JUSTICE Secretary Raul Gonzalez yesterday ordered a panel of prosecutors to waive the payment of docket fees and pave the way for the early resolution of the syndicated estafa cases filed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and other individuals against the officers and agents of Performance Investment Products Corp. (PIPC).

THE peso yesterday shed four centavos to close at P44.59 per dollar from Tuesday’s close of P44.55.

The range-bound trading reflected how investors were cautious ahead of the policy decision by the US Federal Reserve on interest rates, currency traders said.