MSMEs are gradually recovering from the impact of the pandemic and are now back to normal operations,
thanks to BDO Network Bank’s support through the MSME Kabuhayan Loan.
Over 34 million adult Filipinos are still unserved and do not have bank accounts, while others, including businesses, remain underserved or lack access to other financial services, especially those in rural areas.
Access to financial solutions uplifts lives and livelihoods. Banks providing access to financial services can help unserved and underserved communities save for the future, invest in business opportunities, manage risks and build financial strength. This, in turn, can facilitate economic
development, thus, alleviating poverty.
Fully recognizing the requirement to serve these communities, BDO Unibank steered BDO Network Bank to reach them wherever they are to deliver the financial solutions they need and deserve.
“We go where we are needed,” says BDO Network Bank president Jesus Antonio S. Itchon on their service philosophy. “We have over 470 branches and loan offices and will continue expanding.”
He said one of the critical ways of serving unserved and underserved communities is to be accessible, especially for areas where infrastructure is still a challenge and connectivity is insufficient.
For this reason, BDO Network Bank carries out inventive ways of serving individuals and businesses by having tellers and account officers go to their places of work and homes, even if this requires traveling long distances.
“Micro-entrepreneurs, for example, cannot just leave their businesses to go to the bank to do their transactions. So we go to them and even bring along point-of-sale (PoS) terminals to enable deposits and withdrawals,” Itchon notes.
Reality continues to bite, though, as there are more areas in the country that banks cannot yet reach and penetrate. So it’s a good thing the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas paved the way to introduce agency banking to make bank services physically accessible to more clients.
These agents are retail outlets in the community (e.g., accredited convenience stores, pharmacies, pawnshops, tailors and barber shops) where one can avail of banking services such as cash deposit and withdrawal, fund transfer, and bills payment.
Cash Agad, the agency banking service of BDO Unibank, has been doing precisely that since 2014, accommodating all ATM card holders. “BDO started Cash Agad with a vision in mind: How can we deliver banking to more Filipinos who don’t have access, particularly in low-income and rural areas?
So we deployed PoS machines to our partners, mostly micro businesses with established community operations,” explains Jaime M. Nasol, BDO senior vice president and head of agency banking.
As of the end of 2022, there are 10,603 Cash Agad partner agents nationwide.
“100% of the 82 provinces have Cash Agad, and we have covered 94% of the total 1,500 municipalities in the country,” shares Nasol.
Cash Agad will continue to expand its coverage through more agent partnerships, and add more services such as cash-in and bills payment, to make banking accessible to more Filipinos. ATM or access to money is, after all, the very mission of agency banking.
Financial Performance
BDO’s strong performance in 2022 supports further expansion in service of more rural areas. It reported its net income grew 33% to PHP57.1 billion in 2022. Gross customer loans went up by 9% year-on-year on broad-based growth due to the economic reopening. Total deposits rose by 14%, with net interest income growing by 14% to PHP149.2 billion.
