LandBank of the Philippines reported that more than 2 million previously unbanked people have registered for bank accounts in the first four months of the year as part of their partnership with the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
The bank said a total of 2,481,788 unbanked Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) registrants have already signed up for transaction accounts as of end-April.
This initiative is part of Landbank’s partnership with the PSA to increase financial inclusion rates in the country by co-locating the unbanked through the PhilSys registration and providing them with their own transaction accounts.
Of the total 2,481,788 unbanked registrants, Landbank has issued Agent Banking Cards (ABCs) to 850,875 of them free-of-charge and without an initial deposit requirement.
The rest will receive their cards by July.
“LandBank is one with the government’s financial inclusion agenda. In partnership with the PSA, we are focused on opening accounts for up to eight million low-income, unbanked individuals from the 32 PhilSys priority provinces at the soonest time,” LandBank President and CEO Cecilia C. Borromeo said.
Upon the invitation of National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua to co-locate with the PSA, the bank said its aim is to bank at least one household member of the estimated 18 million low-income households applying for the National ID.
This account will help them and the government provide access to basic banking services and emergency government subsidies.
Previously, the PSA reported that 82 percent of the 10.52 million initial registrants do not have formal bank accounts.
Cardholders can use the Landbank cards to cash-in, cash-out, and transfer funds at any Landbank Branch or Agent Banking Partner.
They can also withdraw cash at Mastercard-accepting ATMs, perform cashless transactions, shop online, as well as receive government subsidies digitally.
The bank also said they are working to allow cardholders to use their cards in contactless facilities such as paying fares in public transport modes under the Automatic Fare Collection System project of the Department of Transportation.
source: Landbank and BusinessMirror
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