RP mobile banking attracts foreign central banks

MANILA, Philippines - Officials of the central bank of Afghanistan, the Bank of Ceylon and Sri Lanka were in the Philippines recently to study mobile banking and remittance services offered by rural banks. They likewise met with representatives of Globe Telecommunications and Smart Communications and officials of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

The foreign delegations were interested in mobile phone banking services and mobile money platforms including how these services are benefiting the underbanked and unbanked sector. They studied the success factors in the Philippine market, as well as the regulatory framework that made the Philippines a successful model.

The official visits, held in different occasions, were facilitated by the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP), the Microenterprises Access to Banking Services (MABS) program, Alliance for Financial Inclusion, and Utiba, a mobile wallet developer.