Yuchengco-led Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) continues to set the standard for the retail banking industry as it hauled eight banking awards including the Philippines’ Best Retail Bank at the Retail Banker International Trailblazer Awards held last June 23, 2022.
The Retail Banker International (RBI) Trailblazer also recognized RCBC’s Retail Banking Group (RBG) as the Winner for Excellence in Mass Affluent Banking and ‘Highly Commended’ for Best Savings Plan Offering. The RCBC’s Digital Enterprise and Innovation Group (DEIG) won the Best CSR Initiative, Best Advance for Leading a Crisis, and ‘Highly Commended’ awards for Best Marketing Campaign, Best Content Marketing, and Best Advance in Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives. Meanwhile, RCBC Bankard won the Best Credit Card Initiative.
“RCBC will continue its more than 60 years of commitment to service excellence and inclusive innovations at par with global standards for every Filipino,” said RCBC President and CEO Eugene S. Acevedo.
Developing digital innovations with a purpose
RCBC’s Digital Enterprise and Innovation Group (DEIG) won Best Advance for Leading Under a Crisis and Best CSR Initiative as demonstrated by its online banking app, RCBC Digital, ATM-Go and its financial inclusion super app, Diskartech, for its financial literacy efforts.
It also received the Best Marketing Campaign, Best Content Marketing, and Best Advance in Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives high commendations for its pioneering digital campaigns.
“Innovation with purpose has been at the core of our digital business,” said RCBC Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer Lito Villanueva.
The award for Best CSR Initiative is through the group’s ‘Madiskarteng Pilipino Financial Education Campaign’. The campaign is an integrated marketing campaign that aims to strengthen financial education and digital literacy in the country. Some strategies of the campaign include ‘Pisonomics’ podcast, DiskarTechTV, and ‘Utang ni Tatang’ digital ad. These campaigns merited highly commended for Best Marketing Campaign and Best Content Marketing.
Both DiskarTech and ATM Go innovations were one of the most used platforms for the government’s aid disbursements such as the ‘Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program’ conditional cash transfer or 4Ps and the social amelioration program distribution or ‘ayuda’ during the pandemic. It earned the high commendation for diversity and inclusion initiative for its initiative in reaching the geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas.
Fostering customer-centric solutions that empower clients
The RBI Trailblazer Awards recognized RCBC as the Winner in Excellence in Mass Affluent Banking for its Hexagon Club, which serves the emerging and mass affluent individuals, and retail entrepreneurs among its existing RCBC accounts. RCBC Hexagon Club caters to the unique needs of the emerging mass affluent, offering premium banking services and perks to members, on and inside and outside RCBC branches.
The Hexagon Club significantly contributed to RCBC’s business, enabling the bank to register the highest total deposit growth of 25.5%. This is evidenced by a steady growth of their clientele base from 36,000 in 2020 to over 57,000 in 2021 that has contributed 61% of the bank’s total retail business current account/savings account.
RCBC’s OneAccount earned the ‘Highly Commended’ award for Best Savings Plan Offering. OneAccount is a first-in-its-class offering all-in-one deposit account with savings, checking, and time deposits in a single account that allows zero maintaining balance. It continues to attract different age groups in various life stages who have diverse banking requirements.
RCBC Bankard was given the Best Credit Card Initiative for its proprietary financial tools that transform credit card accounts into a life enhancer that allows cardholders to better manage their finances, 24×7, wherever they are, through the RCBC Digital app.
“We designed RCBC Bankard credit cards to be enablers to our cardholders. The RCBC Digital app aids us in doing that while also improving customer experience.” said RCBC Bankard President & CEO Arniel Vincent B. Ong.
Among these tools are Spend Analyzer, which extends the monthly statement of account from a simple notice into a guide by summarizing cardholders’ purchases according to categories. RCBC Bankard also offers unlimited 0% and unlimited installment allowing cardholders to convert their straight purchases from 3 months tenor up to 36 months installments with no limit on the number of times users can avail and with no requirement as to minimum or maximum amount. RCBC Bankard also allows cardholders to charge their utility bills to their credit card, where they can choose to pay “on-demand” for one-time payments or “auto-charge” for recurring bills that they want to be automatically charged to their card.
The 13th Annual RBI Asia Trailblazer Awards 2022 is organized by Retail Banker International (RBI), an independent briefing service that provides subscribers with coverage across areas such as product innovation, distribution channels, leadership strategy, regulation, and marketing.
The awards program celebrates the best practices in retail banking and consumer finance institutions and individuals for innovations.