Bank-Genie, a Singapore-headquartered technology company, is powering the digital transformation of banks across the Philippines and helping to accelerate financial inclusion.
Bank-Genie provides low-cost technology solutions to digitize retail banking and consumer banking services. With Bank-Genie technology, banks can open branches that provide a suite of financial services with just “a tablet, a small Bluetooth printer, and a card reader,” said Bank-Genie co-founder Ram Sharma. “We believe technology is the solution to enable financial inclusion and a more productive society in markets like the Philippines,” he added.
The tech company has successfully deployed its technology solution for local banks including UnionBank, East West Bank, PSBank, and Land Bank, among others, thus enabling frictionless banking.
With its large rural population and infrastructure gaps, it is estimated that roughly 7 in 10 Filipinos are financially excluded. According to data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), more than half of borrowers source their loans from informal sources. Lack of access to financing is also a key barrier to the growth of SMEs and MSMEs, especially rural-based small enterprises.
Without access to financial services, the cycle of poverty is hard to break. Bank-Genie co-founder Raghu Nandan explained, “Without a credit history, borrowers cannot secure loans from the banks, so what people do instead is they go and take a loan from a loan shop or a moneylender, which means that they have to pay very high interest. Which also means that already poor people get even poorer.”
Bank-Genie co-founders Sharma and Nandan share their enthusiasm for the potential power of technology to bring banking services to millions of people in remote parts of a country as vast as the Philippines. Its technology platform is one way of overcoming the costs factor that inhibits banks from serving remote communities.
Recently, Bank-Genie unveiled its expansion plans for the Philippines. Its technology team is very keen on enabling digital transformation for savings and community banks, and on curbing the adverse cycle of financial exclusion. The team is working actively to expand its headcount in Manila as it plans on launching a range of new products in the coming months.
“Our vision has always been to bring the bank to every doorstep and democratize financial services to make it accessible to every citizen of the world,” said Sharma.
Bank-Genie is backed by institutional investors including Dutch development bank FMO. This technology company has partnered with more than 30 client banks and financial institutions across Africa and Southeast Asia, with currently 13 client banks in the Philippines.