BY JENNIFER C. TILOS
NEGROS ORIENTAL, Sept. 8 (PIA) -- The Bangko Sentral ng
Pilipinas (BSP) lauded CARD Bank for pushing country’s financial-inclusive
system in the latter’s 18th anniversary recently and Savings Month celebration.
BSP managing director Chuchi Fonacier expressed
appreciation working with CARD Bank in crafting relevant and responsive
policies, which are supportive to financial inclusion.
The anniversary theme, “Fulfilling a bright and
stable future for every family: Making financial inclusion a reality” aims to
strengthen its advocacy in savings consciousness.
“CARD Bank is an industry leader and therefore
plays a significant role in building an inclusive financial system in the
country,” said Fonacier.
Speaking to hundreds of clients on opportunities
of saving in a financial institution is way more advantageous than keeping it
at home, “ it protects our money from theft and safeguard it from disasters and
pests or insects,” Fonacier said.
She added “Saving in a bank is the first step to
avail other financial products such as credit and insurance and banks is
insured by Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC).
To date, CARD Bank has a total of 1.5 million
clients served with total loans outstanding of P4.6 billion and total savings
of P4.4 billion.
Based from the BSP’s National Baseline Survey on
Financial Inclusion, only four out of 10 Filipino adults currently have
savings. Of such, 68 percent keep their savings at home and the rest in banks.
According to Fonacier, with the help of
microfinance institutions, they are seeing positive results in terms of micro-deposit
accounts.
An increase of 2 million accounts had recorded
in 2014 from 1.1 million in 2012. In terms of value, the total amount of
micro-deposits grew by P4 billion in 2014 from P2.3 billion in 2012.
The BSP official shared that aside from ensuring
the availability of appropriate, affordable and accessible financial services
is to promote greater awareness through financial education, capacity building
and personal finance management.
The BSP is committed in promoting financial
inclusion and implementing the tactical plans in the National Strategy for
Financial Inclusion (NSFI), which was launched recently.
Established in 1997, CARD Bank is a
microfinance-oriented rural bank and a member institution of CARD MRI, a social
development organization that aims for poverty eradication in the country.
(mbcn/jct/PIA7-Negros Oriental)