Digital Reporter
Robert A. Vergara Jr.
鈥淭he Philippines is ready for financial disruption,鈥 declared Jose Modesto Rubio, president and CEO of聽鈥憃wned fintech startup聽.
Mr. Rubio leads the company behind micro payment service platform聽聽and personal and business loan provider聽.
During the Techonomy 2017 forum on July 7 at Maybank Performing Arts Theatre in BGC, Taguig City, he said the Philippine market is 鈥渞ipe鈥 for disruption as mainstream financial institutions have not provided a large majority of Filipinos with financial services.
鈥淭echnology is transforming every aspects of our lives. Unfortunately, in the Philippines technology hasn鈥檛 touched financial services yet,鈥 he said. 鈥淏ut a wave of disruption driven by mobile technology is coming. Mobile technology will make financial services more accessible to Filipinos.鈥
He said the country鈥檚 readiness for financial disruption can be manifested through GCash and Fuse users, adding that, the two platforms have recorded 67% user growth in the past six months鈥攄oubling the number of their active users鈥攁nd about 100,000 app downloads per month.
鈥淭his (financial disruption) is not impossible. This is already happening. It鈥檚 happening in China, it鈥檚 happening in India, and it鈥檚 happening in the Philippines today,鈥 Ms. Rubio said.
The challenge he sees in making this disruption possible lies in the awareness of Filipinos and capacity of financial institutions to provide enough services.
鈥淔inancial services play an important role in the everyday lives of Filipinos. However, the biggest problem is the lack of financial access available in the market,鈥 he said.
The results of the quadrennial聽聽conducted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas show that only two in 10 Filipino families have been saving money in banks. The survey says only 70% of those with bank accounts have interest earnings while only about two percent of households have credit cards.
鈥淢obile financial services present an opportunity to disrupt mainstream financial services to serve millions of financially underserved Filipinos,鈥 he said.
