The pandemic has indeed made a profound impact on how we conduct business and accelerated the need to go digital on all facets of life, including financial transactions. And the regulators are keen to utilise the prevailing trend to benefit the end-users and become a more financially inclusive country.
Here is an excerpt from an article published on opengovasia.com on these lines,
“In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the Philippine central bank urges financial technology companies to take advantage of the rise of digital transactions and to offer much-needed services to the Filipinos. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said that the continuing crisis of public health has caused an increase in volume and value in digital-driven transactions.
The Covid-19 situation highlights the need for local banks and other financial institutions to be more inclusive, as well as the urgency to address the huge gap in financial services for small businesses, both of which are critical to the economy’s growth, with MSMEs accounting for 99.5% of registered businesses in the Philippines.
Fintech applications and technologies are constantly evolving, allowing more Filipinos to conduct financial transactions without the need for a bank account. Fintech products, such as e-wallets, allow users to transfer money digitally and build credit, making it easier for them to borrow funds in the future.
Strike while the iron is hot and offer breakthrough platforms, services and digital systems to automate, expand and facilitate access to financial services.
– Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor
Moreover, the proposed framework for open banking by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) aims to benefit MSMEs by encouraging financial inclusion and making the deployment of innovative financial services faster and easier. With the right infrastructure, banks and fintech companies can create more cost-effective, personalised, and seamless solutions for MSMEs, facilitating distribution, data sharing, and payment enablement.
All these initiatives strive to assist BSP-supervised financial institutions’ digital transformation programmes, including fintech players, while also promoting sound risk technology and cyber risk management.”
For reading the complete article, follow this link: Empowering the Philippine Financial Sector with Technology – OpenGov Asia
