MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: To Help Distribute $4b in COVID-19 Aid, RCBC Rolling Out 2k “ATM Go” POS Devices to Cooperatives, Microfinance Institutions, Rural Banks in the Philippines

The Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) of the Philippines recently partnered with organizations representing over 1,500 financial services providers (FSPs) to give their member FSPs access to RCBC’s ATM Go point-of-service devices to help distribute cash government aid intended to minimize the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. ATM Go devices are portable, mobile-enabled machines that offer many of the services of traditional automated teller machines (ATMs), such as cash withdrawals, balance inquiries, and transfers of funds to pay bills or buy mobile airtime. RCBC has put 1,250 of the devices in service over the past two years, including to deliver government-to-person (G2P) conditional cash transfers. Under the new scheme, RCBC will distribute 2,000 additional ATM Go machines to FSPs, largely in rural areas. This is part of a government effort to deliver PHP 200 billion (USD 4 billion) in aid to 18 million families.

The participating FSPs are the Bayad Center, a bill-payment subsidiary of the Manila Electric Company; the 334 members of the MASS-SPECC Cooperative Development Center; the 810 members of the National Confederation of Cooperatives; and the 500 members of the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines. MASS-SPECC was formed in 1984 by the merger of the Southern Philippines Educational Cooperative Center (SPECC) and the Mindanao Alliance of Self-Help Societies (MASS).

National Confederation of Cooperatives CEO Sylvia Paraguya was quoted as saying, “Cooperatives, with [their] presence in the rural areas, join the bigger community in the use of digital channels to reach out to more people in these trying times.”

Sources and Additional Resources

Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines memo
https://www.facebook.com/ruralbankersph/photos/pb.642544015756123.-2207520000../3145928385417661/

Fintech Singapore article
https://fintechnews.sg/38778/fintechphilippines/philippines-financial-industry-and-ngos-groups-link-for-faster-covid-19-subsidy-delivery/

Bayad Center
https://www.bayadcenter.com

MASS-SPECC Cooperative Center homepage
https://mass-specc.coop

National Confederation of Cooperatives homepage
http://www.natcco.coop

Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines homepage
https://rbap.org

RCBC homepage
https://rcbc.com

More news on COVID-19
https://www.microcapital.org/?s=covid

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