DOF eyes 3 rural banking reforms

THE Department of Finance (DOF) is pushing a trio of initiatives to enable the rural banking system to meet the challenge of reducing the number of unbanked Filipinos in the country, given that this sector is at the frontline of the Duterte administration’s efforts to attain financial inclusion.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the reality that a majority of Filipinos remain unbanked to this day even when the economy is growing at a fast pace is “not a good indicator,” as this means they have neither access to financial services nor ways to participate in investments.

He said the DOF, with the help of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and state-owned banks, are finding ways to relax requirements for deposits, introduce new financial products and increase the use of new technologies for electronic payments systems to help rural bankers in their “urgent” mission of reducing the number of unbanked Filipinos, especially in the countryside.

Dominguez said he is hoping that rural bankers would be at the forefront of national efforts to adapt to technological change, as this development would “immeasurably contribute to the dramatic transformation of our economy.”

“Technological changes will revolutionize the way we do banking. I urge you to embrace the changes that are forthcoming. This revolution in the financial sector will power our economic growth and help us be competitive into the future,” Dominguez told members of the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP) during the organization’s 65th national convention held at the SMX Convention Center here.

Also present at the gathering were Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte Carpio, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Nestor Espenilla, Jr., Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) president Alex Buenaventura, Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) president Roberto Tan, RBAP president Giovanni Gabriento, Rural Bankers Research and Development Foundation Inc. (RBRDFI) chairman Antonio Pasia, RDRDFI trustee Vittorio Almario, and Ives Nisce, chair of the RBAP Electoral Board.