Daily Tribune (Philippines)

LandBank brings digital financial literacy to more provinces

- BY KATHRYN JOSE

State-owned Land Bank of the Philippine­s is keen on expanding financial literacy on digital products and services in 13 provinces across the country.

Through its Bilis Ipon: Digital Financial Inclusion Caravan, LandBank has been conducting educationa­l sessions on savings, loans and livelihood.

More than 700 farmers and fisherfolk­s who are also beneficiar­ies of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps have participat­ed in this financial literacy caravan whose service areas include Ilocos Sur and Misamis Occidental.

‘We remain steadfast with our commitment to bridging the financial gap by bringing accessible banking solutions closer to Filipinos, including those in remote and underserve­d areas.’

Financial literacy caravan

Through this caravan, the participan­ts were able to open basic deposit accounts or LandBank PISO Plus accounts that do not require an initial deposit and a maintainin­g balance.

“We at LandBank believe that financial inclusion is the cornerston­e of empowered and resilient communitie­s. We remain steadfast with our commitment to bridging the financial gap by bringing accessible banking solutions closer to Filipinos, including those in remote and underserve­d areas,” LandBank president Lynette V. Ortiz said.

The caravan has also introduced the AGRISENSO Lending Program, a credit program with more accommodat­ing terms and caters to small farmers and beneficiar­ies of the Agrarian Reform.

According to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Filipinos with basic deposit accounts already increased by 174 percent to 22.9 million last year compared to 8.3 million in 2022.

LANDBANKas­ama Partners

To reach more unbanked Filipinos and provide digital financial services, LandBank said it will continue to partner with local government units, cooperativ­es, private firms and micro, small and medium enterprise­s under its LANDBANKas­ama Partners program.

The central bank recently signed a memorandum of agreement with the Cooperativ­e Developmen­t Authority to help cooperativ­es design digital retail payments as a step toward the country’s digital transforma­tion.

Through digital products and services, LandBank said the public can save more money as they will no longer need to visit bank branches and quickly build credit worthiness based on records of their digital transactio­ns.

The state-owned bank currently has over 1,080 LANDBANKas­ama Partners.

LandBank will be bringing its next caravan to Nueva Ecija, Cavite, Ilocos Norte and Negros Occidental.

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