Microfinance company bolsters Cebu presence
Microfinance firm CARD MRI (Mutually Reinforcing Institutions) is looking to increase its presence in Cebu province to further tap the marginalized sector.
Raffy Antes, corporate communications assistant at CARD MRI, said the microfinance company currently has close to 120,000 clients across its subsidiaries — CARD SME Bank, Rizal Bank, CARD Inc. (social development organization).
"We are on a continuous expansion through 2020," he said in an interview yesterday.
He said the company has employed the 5-8-40 strategy to reach 8 million clients and insure 40 million individuals in five years since 2015.
In Cebu, CARD SME Bank, which provides microfinance loans to small and medium enterprises, has presence in cities of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu and Cordova town with 8,883 clients. It also is looking to establish presence in southern Cebu particularly Talisay City next year.
CARD Inc. has 75 unit offices in Cebu province with over 86,000 clients and is focused on extending aid to the marginalized sector.
CARD MBA, the company's microinsurance arm, has so far insured a total of 433,532 individuals in Cebu and paid claims totaling to P13.5 million as if July this year.
Rizal Bank Inc., CARD's microfinance-oriented rural bank, is set to open a branch in Argao town this month and currently has presence in Carcar City.
It can be recalled that Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) had acquired a 10 percent in RBI, making the Ayala-led lender the exclusive local equity partner of CARD MRI Banking Group.
The acquisition was seen to enable the bank maximize its reach in the microfinance space, benefitting more unserved and underserved Filipinos.”
CARD MRI is a group of social development organizations founded in 1986.
Through its holistic approach to development, it aims to improve the quality of life of socioeconomically challenged families and to eradicate poverty in the country.
Its member institutions specialize in microfinance, microinsurance, business development, education, information technology, pharmacy, and community development.
As of present, CARD MRI has served more than 4.5 million clients all over the Philippines and insured 13.8 million individuals.
RBI, based in Sta. Cruz, Laguna, is a microfinance-oriented rural bank was established in May 1996. In 2013, the BSP approved the transfer of ownership of RBI to CARD MRI.
Microfinance are credit given to poor and low-income households to “raise their income levels and improve living standards,” marked by market-based interest rates and lower or no collateral requirements.
Among its recipients include farmers, fisherfolk, and small businesses.
It was in 2002 when the BSP started requiring banks to report their microfinance operations, which now forms part of the central bank’s National Strategy for Financial Inclusion.
An average microfinance loan in the Philippines amounts to about P25,000, although it can go up to as much as P150,000.