The i2i platform for rural banks and other financial institutions of UnionBank of the Philippines’ fintech arm UBX, posted more transactions in the first quarter of this year compared to the whole of last year, even with the ongoing quarantine.
“Good news is despite the ECQ, we are forecasting higher transactions this year. Activity has not been dampened amidst the pandemic, in fact, the opposite is happening,” UBX president and CEO John Januszczak said. He said they recorded 1,126 transactions for the first quarter alone, up from a total of 807 in 2019.
i2i now has 54 rural banks and cooperative banks in its network of financial institutions, the latest two of which were virtually trained during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ). Around 60 more rural banks are also scheduled to be onboarded.
Most recently, i2i has also started to link its rural bank members to its new network that includes Cebuana Lhuillier, LBC, Palawan Express and PeraHub. This allows customers of the rural banks to send funds and payments to over 11,000 branches of these remittance centers across the country.
i2i has also deployed to rural bank members and partner merchants the mobile automated machines (ATMs), which allow customers to “do balance inquiries and withdraw money using a handy device vs a bulky ATM machine.”
Januszczak said these latest features are especially relevant in the time of the coronavirus outbreak as it lessens the need for people to travel during the ECQ. UBX is also looking at adding other fintech into its growing network in the coming months.
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