As part of its aggressive thrust to promote greater financial inclusion, the Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK) continues to expand its Agent Banking Program to bring basic banking services in remote and unbanked communities of the country.
The program is now being implemented in 14 provinces in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao through 820 Point-of-Sale (POS) terminals. These provinces include Cagayan, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Rizal, Batangas, Palawan, Occidental Mindoro, Quezon, Aklan, Guimaras, Capiz, Cebu, Misamis Oriental and Agusan del Norte.
Under the agent banking strategy, the Bank enters into an agreement with POS Cash Out-Only Partners to facilitate cash out transactions and with full-suite Agent Banking Partners to offer card sale, cash in, cash out, fund transfer and bills payment.
Through the LANDBANK Agent Banking Program, customers in places without formal banking presence can enjoy lower transaction costs, improved access to financial services and potentially save on travel and related expenses. Beneficiaries of the national government’s Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) and Unconditional Cash Transfer (UCT) programs can also withdraw their cash grants through the LANDBANK agent partners.
From January to April 2020, a total of 1.16 Million transactions amounting to P4.77 Billion were completed via full-suite Agent Banking Partners and POS Cash Out-Only partners. This is an increase of 235% in volume from 346,320 transactions and 190% in amount from P1.646 Billion processed in the same period a year ago.
“The LANDBANK Agent Banking Program allows the Bank to better serve its mandated sectors especially from remote areas where financial services are inaccessible. With the help of our agent partners across the country, we are bringing more Filipinos into the financial mainstream, thus, promoting greater financial inclusivity,” LANDBANK President and CEO Cecilia C. Borromeo said.
At present, LANDBANK is working on expanding the features of the program to enable its beneficiaries to pay their loan amortization. The Bank also plans to increase the number of its agent partners, particularly from unbanked and underserved areas, to widen its reach and bring basic banking services closer to more Filipinos.
Before this year ends, LANDBANK targets to get 16 new direct Agent Banking Partners on board, convert 64 eligible POS Cash-Out Only Partners into full-suite Agent Banking Partners, and accredit 200 new full-suite Agent Banking Partners in locations with high number of CCT beneficiaries.
The LANDBANK Agent Banking Program is in accordance with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Circular No. 940 series of 2017 wherein banks are now allowed to serve clients through cash agents contracted to perform selected banking services on its behalf in order to exponentially expand reach and serve clients more efficiently.
