RCBC, Smart tie up for mobile banking

Smart Communications Inc. (Smart) and the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) have forged a partnership to develop and market new financial products and mobile communications technology that will address the needs of migrant workers and the domestic market.

The two firms agreed to develop banking services that will utilize the Smart Services Hub, a mobile commerce platform designed to facilitate the development of international remittance services.

Aside from remittances, other services to be developed jointly are mobile banking services, payroll account management, mobile payments, e-wallet cards and text-based services.

"This partnership with RCBC underscores our commitment to work with bank partners in providing the public with innovative mobile banking and mobile commerce services," said Napoleon L. Nazareno, Smart president and chief executive officer, said. "For RCBC, this partnership will enable them to offer mobile phone-based services for remittances to a wider customer base in a cost- and time-efficient manner," he added.

RCBC chief executive Lorenzo V. Tan said that the accord is a realization of RCBC Telemoney’s mission. "RCBC Telemoney wants to be the leading provider of quality money transfer services that exceeds the ever-demanding expectations of our customers," Tan added.

The tie-up comes in the heels of Smart’s announcement of the Smart Services Hub at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, Spain last February. Through this platform, local banks like RCBC can link up with telecommunication companies (Telcos) and other banks abroad in offering mobile phone-based money transfers and other related services. Smart is also working on several pilot projects in the Middle East and Europe.

It has partnered with MTC Vodafone and a major regional bank in the Gulf state of Bahrain. A similar initiative is under development in Italy. The mobile communications arm of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) is also working with the GSM Association, the global trade association of 700 mobile phone operators, to set up a pilot project with MasterCard as the authorization, clearing and settlement partner.

Through the Smart Services Hub, a foreign mobile phone operator that partners with Smart can offer SIM-based services that enable overseas Filipino subscribers in its home country to send funds to the Philippines using their mobile phones. The funds are drawn from deposit accounts in a partner bank in the same country.

The remittance then goes through a clearing and settlement agency and ends up in the Philippines — specifically, in the recipient’s deposit account or Smart Money-powered card issued by a partner bank like RCBC. Both the sender and recipient will be notified via a text message that the remittance transaction has been completed.

The RCBC is the fifth largest private domestic commercial bank. It was the first Philippine bank to introduce "door-to-door" cash delivery of remittances when in launched RCBC Telemoney in 1991. It has since introduced cutting-edge remittance products and services like Tele-Remit (pay-anywhere) and Tele-Pay (international bills payment). In 2005, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) recognized RCBC as the "Outstanding Commercial Bank- Reporter of OFW Remittances".

RCBC Telemoney has since expanded its reach to more than 25 countries with strong Filipino migrant populations including Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Cyprus, and Israel in the Middle East; the United States, Guam and Canada in North America; Italy, Germany, United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Ireland in Europe; Hong Kong, Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Australia in Asia.

Since 2000, Smart has been actively promoting mobile commerce usage in the Philippines through various services that run on the Smart Money Platform. These services include the award-winning Smart Money, the world’s first electronic wallet card linked to a mobile phone which won the 2001 3GSM Award for "Most Innovative GSM Wireless Service for Customers. It was also cited as the "Best Product Innovation" award at the MasterCard Marketing Awards in Australia. In 2005, Smart launched the world’s first mobile phone-based remittance service called Smart Padala for Filipino migrant workers. — Ted Torres