RCBC Rolls Out Open Banking Partnership With the Rural Bankers Association
by Fintech News Philippines June 23, 2021The Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) has rolled out an enabling digitalisation initiative with a new partnership with the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP) for the SynerFi Open Finance Network.
This move comes days after the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) released its Open Finance Framework.
The BSP’s Open Finance Framework’s main premise is consent-driven data portability, interoperability and collaborative partnerships between financial institutions and fintech players.
Through the SynerFi (Synergy in Finance) Open Finance Network, member banks of the RBAP and eventually, cooperatives, microfinance institutions, and other industry players will be able to set up their own digital financial inclusion platforms to cater to their respective customers.
The partnership between RCBC and RBAP for SynerFi is set to enhance banking interoperability in the country as it promotes the open finance framework.
This aligns well with the BSP’s twin goals of generating 50 percent of financial transactions to digital, and converting 70 percent of adult Filipinos to be part of the formal financial system by end of 2023 under its Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap.
Eugene S. Acevedo
“We are accelerating financial inclusion in the countryside by democratising digital transformation in partnership with rural banks, cooperatives, microfinance institutions and other non-bank financial players. Coping with this disruption is through coopetition under an open banking regime.
There is indeed a synergy in finance among like-minded industry players who share our goal of pushing for financial inclusion,”
said Eugene Acevedo, President and CEO of RCBC.
“Our intimate knowledge of our own communities enriched by our personal approach to customers provide valuable insights when it comes to customer preferences.
This untapped and underserved segment of the population forms the backbone of our country’s recovery from the pandemic, and we are excited to bring our expertise on this matter moving forward,”
said Elizabeth Carlos-Timbol, President at RBAP.
