Cantilan Bank launches mobile banking app to help digitize and empower rural communities

iCAN app and other mobile banking services to serve over 100 underbanked communities

SURIGAO DEL SUR, Philippines —  Cantilan Bank (CANBNK), a pioneer in digital countryside finance, carries out its mobile-first strategy by officially launching its latest digital channel, the iCAN mobile banking app. 

The recently launched iCAN mobile app was rolled out to deliver safe and secure cashless financial services to underbanked communities 24/7 and give them efficient mobile access to core transactions such as fund transfer, bills payment, prepaid phone reloading and QR code payment

CANBNK has been a main advocate of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap 2020-2023, where the goal is for 50% of total retail transaction volume to go digital and 70% of Filipino adults to be financially included. 

“Cantilan Bank’s determination and commitment to genuinely help people in the countryside have indeed become its driving force toward innovation. It is the first bank in the country to adopt cloud-based technology for its core banking system—paving the way for other rural banks to do the same. For this achievement, the BSP honored Cantilan Bank with the 2019 Digital Trailblazer Award in our Stakeholders Awards Ceremony,” BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno said.

The BSP has recently granted the licenses and approvals for CANBNK to operate as an Electronic Money Issuer-Bank (EMI-Bank), to engage in agency banking, and to offer a cloud-based electronic payment and Financial Service (EPFS). This allows the bank's clients to access mobile banking, e-wallet and cash agency services all in one app.  

iCAN is a prime example of how innovation is achieved through partnership, as made possible with the support of and collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), regional innovation center and marketplace APIX and fintech Geniusto.

ADB has been an integral part of CANBNK’s digital success, noting its key role in furthering financial inclusion across the rural banking industry. 

“We are inspired by Cantilan Bank who continues to pave the way for many others in the finance sector and leveraging digital technology for innovative transformation. They have demonstrated that a small rural bank can also be innovative and technologically adept,” Junkyu Lee, ADB chief of the finance sector group, said.

IFC provided strategic advisory services to CANBNK, supporting the bank in the development of its omni-channel mobile banking and payments solution.

IFC Global Digital Finance Specialist Lowell Campbell, who has been supporting CANBNK in its digital transformation, said: “We are proud to have been part of Cantilan Bank’s journey to advance its digital financial services, which will ultimately improve financial inclusion in the Philippines. We look forward to supporting the team in their next steps, which will involve providing the next level of innovation in mobile banking in a sustainable and relevant manner to the communities that they serve.”

CANBNK intends to maximize its digital and cloud-based omnichannel platform to effectively increase end-client access to a variety of digital financial services during the pandemic crisis through partnerships with regional digital innovation champions such as APIX, the world's first cross-border, open-architecture API marketplace and sandbox platform for collaboration between fintechs and financial institutions.

In developing a multi-faceted mobile app, Shane Hermans, founder and chief innovation officer of Geniusto, worked side-by-side with CANBNK in delivering the best version of iCAN to its clients. 

“We’ve had the pleasure of experiencing hands-on the accelerated objective of onboarding the rural landscape to the digital space. The Cantilan Bank staff has been further ensuring better, safer, more economical services to be in place for its customers. The iCAN is the first step to our continued partnership of digital expansion in the rural countryside,” he shared. 

To end, CANBNK Chairman of the Board, Lieutenant General William Hotchkiss III, AFP (Ret.), highlighted the need to adopt a mobile-first strategy with a customer-centric business model, to diversify online products and service channels, and to continue the meaningful process of digital transformation in a post-COVID digital economy. 

iCAN is now available for download on Google Play and the Apple App Store.