RCBC eyes 1-million ATM cardholders by yearend

MANILA, Philippines - Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) is looking to expand its automated teller machine (ATM) card base, including its popular debit cards, to one million cardholders by the end of 2009.

In a press briefing yesterday, RCBC executive vice president and retail banking group head Ismael R. Sandig said its ATM card base has already topped 750,000, of which 450,000 are cash cards known as My Wallet.

The retail banking arm, which includes the bancassurance products, accounts for about 20 percent of RCBC’s bottom line.

The MyWallet series, has 20 card variations, the latest of which is the MyWallet MRT. The MRT variant will allow cardholders to load the card and use it in place of the present MRT cards.

“By October, cardholders can access six MRT stations. By December, it will be honored in all MRT stations,” Sandig said.

He said there is a high upside on the growth of the MyWallet MRT cards considering that there are a million MRT riders daily.

Cash cards are pre-loaded ATM cards. Cardholders need not be a bank account holder, but may avail of a free MyWallet card and buy its “load” from any RCBC branch including a loading fee of just P20.

Sandig said they are seeking approval from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to allow all RCBC Savings Bank branches as “loading station.”

Credit card subsidiary Bankard Inc. has also opened its 4,000 merchant outlets as loading stations.

By next year, RCBC plans to issue its universal variation of MyWallet, that will be encompassing of all the 20 variations of the popular cash card.   — Ted Torres