THE LAND BANK of the Philippines (LANDBANK) has ramped-up efforts to bring more unbanked Filipinos into the formal banking system, in support for the national government’s financial inclusion agenda.
As of May 31, LANDBANK has onboarded a total of 3,794,882 unbanked National ID registrants for transaction accounts, of whom 1,071,177 have already received their LANDBANK Agent Banking Cards (ABCs).
The cards – which were provided free-of-charge and with no initial deposit requirement – form part of the bank’s ongoing partnership with the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) to co-locate in the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) rollouts nationwide and provide unbanked registrants with their own transaction accounts.
“As we commemorate Independence Day centered on unity, LANDBANK continues to take part in the national government’s whole-of-nation approach towards reaching and serving more unbanked and underserved Filipinos, helping them to be financially independent. We are one with government partners in fast-tracking initiatives to bridge the financial inclusion gap in the country,” said LANDBANK president and chief executive officer Cecilia Borromeo.
The LANDBANK ABCs are given to unbanked PhilSys registrants through LANDBANK account opening booths at designated co-location areas. As of end-May 2021, LANDBANK has co-located in more than 850 PhilSys registration centers in 32 pilot provinces nationwide.
Cardholders can use the LANDBANK ABCs to cash-in, cash-out, and transfer funds at any LANDBANK Branch or Agent Banking Partner. They can also withdraw cash at Mastercard-accepting ATMs, perform cashless transactions, shop online, and receive government subsidies digitally.
In the future, the LANDBANK ABCs may be used as contactless cards to pay fares in public transport modes under the Automatic Fare Collection System project of the Department of Transportation.
With its various efforts to boost financial inclusion in the country, LANDBANK is doing its share in reducing inequality, in helping to free the unbanked from poverty, and in promoting inclusive growth. Financial inclusion provides the unbanked opportunities to save, invest, and avail of affordable credit, leading towards their financial independence.
By banking the unbanked, LANDBANK enables government cash grants and pensions to be credited directly into their accounts through cashless fund transfers.
Delivering social protection programs
Together with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), LANDBANK has also distributed a total of 5.6 million LANDBANK Cash Cards to beneficiaries of social protection program nationwide as of May 31.
Of this total, 4.4 million LANDBANK Cash Cards were delivered to DSWD’s Conditional Cash Transfer Program beneficiaries. The remaining 1.2 million cash cards were distributed to Unconditional Cash Transfer Program beneficiaries, composed of 596,761 and 643,562 beneficiaries under the Social Pension Program for Indigent Senior Citizens and poor households in the DSWD’s Listahanan database, respectively./PN
