Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) subsidiary BPI Direct BanKo said Monday, June 19, that its new e’Nay app will onboard 100,000 sari-sari store owners after a year from its launch this week.
BanKo head of financial inclusion and microfinance, Rod Mabiasen, in a press briefing said they have opened more than 70,000 accounts that have been automatically enrolled in the app. By the fourth quarter, he’s hoping all of these accounts are already activated.
Mabiasen said one of the products in the app are “special loans” which they will include by November or early next year. This loan facility will allow users to order and purchase inventory using approved credit line of a minimum P5,000 up to P25,000.
He said that by the end of 2023, they hope to reach P15 billion at least in loans, released to around 250,000 clients by that time via the app. Clients tap their PondoKo savings account linked to the app.
The accounts in the app are standard basic deposit accounts (BDAs). BDAs are low-cost, no-frills account with an initial deposit of just P100 or less. The central bank first introduced the BDA in 2018. It also has no maintaining balance, no dormancy charges, and requires only simple identification for account opening.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) officials led by BSP Governor Felipe M. Medalla attended the e’Nay app launch on Monday. Medalla said the new app “puts pressure on the competition” to come up with the same innovation to expand financial inclusion.
He said while banks and non-banks have different approaches in onboarding more clients and making it more efficient and convenient to transact online, the main key is electronic payments. “Digitalization makes it all easier,” he said.
Medalla said the BSP has given enough perks to banks and non-banks to encourage them to introduce more friendly apps that will encourage micro, small and medium enterprises to put their money in the bank and transact more in digital payments.
BanKo chairperson, Jojo Ocampo, said e’Nay app basically gives sari-sari store owners access to e-commerce. It’s the second step for BanKo which already has more than 300,000 self-employed microentrepreneur depositors that have taken out a combined P40 billion in loans in recent years. Most of these loans were availed of from the Negosyo Ko loan in its 318 branches. Currently, about 32,000 sari-sari store owners have BanKo loans.
Ocampo said the app will connect micro-retailers to distributors and wholesalers. Its initial partner is Ultra Mega Supermarket but they will look for other retailer partners as they expand to more areas. “With the e’Nay app, our BanKo nanays (of whom the app was named after) would have an easier time purchasing stocks of their goods to be sold,” she said.
The e’Nay app was a partnership between BanKo and Innovative Research and Intelligent Solutions Corp. or Innovaris. Its chair, Joey Mendoza, said there’s a huge potential for the app’s reach. He said a typical sari-sari store has 50 to 500 clients on average, and if services are done efficiently and fast via the app, it can now reach or serve millions in just a short time.
The app includes basic functionalities such as ordering, inventory control, payments, delivery and logistics. BPI said Innovaris developed, hosts, and manages the app, while BanKo provides the payment functionality.
The goods, sourced from Ultra Mega for now, will be delivered within the same day for orders made before the 2PM and located within an 8-10 kilometer radius. It is initially available in Bulacan and Cavite and will soon be offered in Pampanga and Laguna.
“In BPI, we continue to develop financial products that can help uplift the lives and nurture the future of self-employed microentrepreneurs in the country. We hope that this new app will be able to transform the lives of our sari-sari store owners for the better,” said BPI President and CEO Jose Teodoro “TG” Limcaoco.