SAN ANTONIO, Nueva Ecija – When his daughter entered college, solo parent Nelson
Quilantang needed to start saving to cover tuition fees for her chosen four-year degree.
But without a bank account, he had difficulty building an education fund for her.
Nelson’s worries were laid to rest when he learned that the Land Bank of the
Philippines (LANDBANK) was facilitating the opening of LANDBANK accounts at the
same registration center where he signed up for the Philippine National ID.
This is part of LANDBANK’s co-location strategy with the Philippine Statistics Authority
(PSA), wherein unbanked registrants who completed Step 2 of the Philippine
Identification System (PhilSys) registration process are provided with their own
LANDBANK transaction accounts free-of-charge and with no initial deposit requirement.
To reach and service more PhilSys registrants, LANDBANK is tapping agent banking
partners (ABPs) to facilitate account application and Know-Your-Customer (KYC)
activities at PhilSys registration areas nationwide.
Nelson was assisted at the PhilSys registration center by the staff of Tynnes Giggles
Boutique—a general merchandising store and a LANDBANK ABP in Nueva Ecija—who
helped him open an account and provide him his LANDBANK Prepaid Card on the same
day.
With the Prepaid Card, Nelson is now able to regularly cash-in a portion of his earnings
via Tynnes Giggles Boutique at their nearby branch in San Antonio, and more
importantly, grow his savings for his daughter’s education. He can also perform other
transactions such as cash-out, fund transfers, bills payments, and balance inquiries.
“Salamat sa LANDBANK dahil mas madali na akong nakaka-ipon ngayon. Malaking
ginhawa din ang Tynnes Giggles Boutique dahil hindi ko na kailangan pang bumiyahe
ng malayo,” said Quilantang.
Advancing financial inclusion through ABPs
LANDBANK ABPs play a major role in onboarding unbanked PhilSys registrants in the
country. Of the total 8.1 million registrants who have signed up for LANDBANK
transaction accounts nationwide, 3.5 million were serviced by ABPs as of end-May
2022.
Of the total 404,778 onboarded registrants in Nueva Ecija, 280,848 or 69% of the
unbanked PhilSys registrants opened their accounts through LANDBANK’s eight ABPs in
the province.
Of this number, Tynnes Giggles Boutique onboarded 102,697 PhilSys registrants from
the Municipalities of Cabiao, Jaen, San Antonio, San Isidro, Gabaldon, Santo Domingo,
Talavera, and the City of Palayan.
Boutique store owner Cristina Lejano travelled with her team around the province to
facilitate account opening activities in PhilSys registration centers at the height of the
pandemic—reaching as far as Gabaldon, which took almost 3 hours by land from their
main office in San Antonio.
“More than the additional income, I applied as a LANDBANK Agent Banking Partner in
order to serve our community. Having few financial institutions in our town, it was
difficult for locals to conveniently access banking services. Our store is helping to bridge
this gap,” said Lejano.
The Tynnes Giggles Boutique was officially accredited by LANDBANK as a full-suite ABP
in 2020, after its staff completed the required trainings and complied with the
requirements of the Bank.
Under its Agent Banking Program, LANDBANK initiates partnerships with client
cooperatives, associations, rural banks, local government units (LGUs), micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and private entities to help provide basic banking
services to areas with limited or no Bank presence.
