Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno commended Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation’s (RCBC) development of the country’s first mobile human-assisted remote banking service that seeks to provide banking services to far-flung communities.

The RCBC Moneybela Barangayan Banking is a physical-digital blended banking service that will make basic deposit account creation, bills payment, e-load, cash in or cashout, microinsurance, and telemedicine purchase accessible to previously unreached communities through sustainable e-tricycles.

This service will be made available in 42,000 barangays nationwide where Filipinos will have access to banking services bundled with agent-assisted financial education.

“This pioneering innovation complements the Philippine government’s thrust for digital transformation and aligns it with our Sustainable Development Goals, with financial inclusion being a key enabler in achieving equality and empowerment, supporting innovation, and promoting economic growth through savings mobilisation for investment and consumption,”

said Secretary Diokno during the RCBC Moneybela Barangayan Banking Launch on Monday.

“Moneybela is a tool for us to be able to accelerate the realization of the twin goals of the central bank. It’s more of leveling the playing field, it’s more of providing equal access to everyone, it’s making sure no one is left behind,”

Lito Villanueva, Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer at RCBC said to the BusinessWorld.

Secretary Diokno added that the innovation brings the government closer to its goal of financial inclusion by bringing quality financial services to many unbanked and underserved sectors.

As former Governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Secretary Diokno sought to digitalise at least half of all retail payments and onboard 70 percent of Filipino adults to the formal financial system by 2023.