Sen. Grace Poe is seeking to expand banking services to far-flung communities in the country by tapping convenience stores, pharmacies, and retail outlets.
Poe, chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Banks, Financial Institutions, and Currencies, recently filed Senate Bill No. 1682, or the proposed “Bangko sa Baryo Act,” to provide people in remote and underserved areas access to banks.
“In many parts of the country, people are unable to borrow and receive financial help because they lack access to banks, which are often located long distances away,” Poe said.
“Our ordinary folks should no longer cross rivers or climb mountains just to reach the bank in their locality in order to gain access to much needed resources that can help better their lives. They should not also be made to borrow or shell out the little money that they have just to make the trip to the bank, which must instead be brought closer to them,” she said.
Citing BSP data, Poe said around 60 percent of the country’s adult population remains “unbanked” as of 2017. Only 15 percent save money while 10 percent borrow money from formal financial institutions.
Meanwhile, around 33 percent of cities and municipalities have no banking presence.
She quoted the BSP as saying that accessibility and cost have been the primary obstacles toward financial inclusion.
Under her bill, “cash agents” such as convenience stores, pharmacies, and accessible retail outlets would be contracted by banks to offer online, real-time withdrawal or deposit transactions, fund transfers, bill payments, and self-service transactions.
The cash agents may also accept payments due to government institutions, such as contributions to the Social Security System and premiums payable to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), Pag-IBIG, and others.
Poe said her bill also aims to incorporate the guidelines issued by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) in January 2017, which allowed banks to serve clients through cash agents to accept and withdraw cash without prior BSP authorization, as well as fund transfers and bill payments, among others.
The measure also sought to strengthen the safeguards in transactions, she added. (Vanne Terrazola)
