RURAL BANKS NEED NEW TECH TO REMAIN RELEVANT

Atelecommunications giant on Friday urged rural banks to invest in and adopt new technologies to keep up with the times and remain relevant.

In a statement, Globe Telecom unit MyBusiness said necessary technology solutions “can provide worry- free operations to rural banks and allow entrepreneurs to focus on staying ahead of [the] competition.”

Tony Alcasid, president of the Rural Bank of Taal in Batangas province, agreed, saying these lenders had to improve their systems in delivering services the way commercial banks do.

“I think [that] in order for any

go digital. Rural banks should be able to step up and work out the

he was quoted as saying in the statement.

Alcasid also said that while everyone was into mobile technology, provinces still lagged behind markets in Manila.

“[W]e have a lot of work to do to keep up,” he added.

Emerito Ramos 3rd, president of Tamaraw Rural Bank and of the Confederation of Southern Tagalog Rural Bankers, said digital banking could propel rural banks’ growth, as it can reach unbanked Filipinos.

“The creation of apps will simplify banking transactions, such as processing of loan applications and money remittances,” he added.

In May, the Department of Finance (DOF) and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) encouraged rural banks to embrace new

reduce the number of unbanked Filipinos.

According to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd, his department, with the help of the BSP and state- owned banks, are finding ways to relax deposit requirements, introduce new financial products, and increase the use of new technologies for electronic payment systems to help rural bankers include more Filipinos in