Berlin-based tech provider bullish on Phl market

MANILA, Philippines - Mambu, a Berlin-based microfinance and banking technology services provider, is seeking to aggressively expand its business in the Philippines to service the country micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMES).

Mambu president David Hamilton said they see the Philippines as one of the most well-organized and well-governed, professionalized  microfinance markets in Asia.

“We see a lot of opportunities in the Philippines. It has one of the fastest growing microfinance industry in the world with favorable regulatory environment,” Hamilton said.

Starting with a fee of $9,000, Hamilton said their company could help MSMEs grow their business faster and more efficiently.

The company’s existing clients currently include Lenddo, MegaMitch and Negosyong Pinoy Finance Corp. (NPFC).

NPFC (Venture South Philippines), Mambu’s newest customer, is an SME – focused financial company providing loans and other services to entrepreneurs and small businesses. It has an office in Pasig City and also covers the province of Cebu with a portfolio of P87.7 million as of end-September 2013 which it expects to grow to P120 million by the end of the year.

Aside from the Philippines, NPFC also operates in Colombia.

“As NPFC strives to expand and grow it services, we believe Mambu is the best fill that would support the MIS requirement of our operation. We are happy to be partnering with Mambu,” NPFC president Rico Coligado said.

“If you want to go big, you have to invest.”

Mambu expects to make modern banking technology accessible and affordable via its cloud-based SaaS delivery model.

“Banks as an industry spend over $120 billion on retail banking technology. They spend more as a percentage of their revenues (over 16 percent) than any other industry in the world including telecommunications. Some of the biggest banks have the biggest IT divisions in the world, rivaling those of Microsoft and Google. This is because technology is critical to financial services, whether microfinance or not. Information and knowledge sit at the heart of the banking system: from the customer, to their account to the aggregate balance sheet of the organization,” said Eugene Danilkis, CEO and co-founder of Mambu.

“But without the technology to access to this critical information, microfinance organizations will struggle to become sustainable,” added Danilkis. “The concept of microfinance is a good one, helping the poorest of the poor, supporting economic development and wealth creation. But without the management information needed to attract sustainable funding and provide regulatory trust, microfinance organizations will struggle to scale to service the three billion unbanked individuals and quarter of a billion underserviced micro, small and medium enterprises around the world.”

“The beauty of the cloud is that is makes things simple. No complicated IT infrastructure, no costly IT specialists, just a very affordable and accessible approach to getting modern banking technology capabilities, without the headaches and the large bill,” he said.

“By ‘democratizing banking’ in this way, entirely new doors begin to open for microfinance organizations as access to business-critical data and the workflows that support client services, such as loan origination, can be undertaken more easily,” Danilkis added.

Established in 2011, Mambu currently works with more than 100 microfinance organizations in 26 countries worldwide, with the largest customer processing more than 300,000 clients across 120 branches. It is currently servicing a portfolio of more than $100 million.