Bank of the Philippines Islands Globe Savings Bank (BanKo), a thrift bank that is expected to become a branchless microfinance bank in the Philippines, has begun pilot testing retail microlending, deposit-taking, and microinsurance using mobile money technology (MMT) [1]. The bank is owned by Bank of the Philippines Islands (BPI), a private commercial bank in the Phillipines; Globe Telecommunications Inc., a telecommunications company based in the Philippines; and Ayala Corp., a holding company with a varied portfolio including BPI’s outstanding stock [1,2,3,4]. BanKo is expected to open its head office in January of 2010 and begin lending to borrowers from the BPI microfinance unit’s client base of 170,000 borrowers [1]. At this point, BanKo is also expected to offer wholesale microlending to clients such as microfinance institutions (MFIs) [1]. Additionally, BanKo will open “regional centers,” not to be confused with branches, in order to establish relationships with MFIs, rural banks, and non-bank financial institutions [1].

By Christopher Maggio, Research Assistant

Bibliography:
[1] PhilStar article entitled ‘First branchless bank starts pilot testing’: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=532536&publicationSubCategoryId=74
[2] Bank of the Philippines Islands (BPI): http://www.bpiexpressonline.com/
[3] Globe Telecommunications Inc.: www.globe.com.ph/
[4] Ayala Corp.: www.ayala.com.ph/

Source article: PhilStar article entitled ‘First branchless bank starts pilot testing’: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=532536&publicationSubCategoryId=74