Another digital bank will soon be catering to the Filipinos’ banking needs as GoTyme Bank, a Gokongwei fintech and a joint venture formed among entities of the Gokongwei Group (RRHI, RLC, and Robinsons Bank), and multi-country digital bank Tyme, has just been formally launched in the Philippines.
The launch of GoTyme in the country also signaled the group’s confidence in the digital bank space.
Top officials from the conglomerate led by Lance Gokongwei, President and CEO of JG Summit, were present during the launch event held in Makati recently.
“We’re really trying to democratize financial services by making financial services and savings really easy to do, not something very scary,” Gokongwei said in a press statement.
According to Gokongwei, Ayala-owned BPI could also soon become a shareholder of GoTyme once the merger between Robinsons Bank and BPI is completed.
“Robinsons Bank is one of the main shareholders of GoTyme, together with Robinsons Retail Holdings and Robinsons Land. Upon the merger of Robinsons Bank with BPI, then BPI will become a shareholder of GoTyme as well,” he added.
Also present during the launch were Robina Gokongwei-Pe, CEO of Robinsons Retail Holdings, as well as BN Radebe-Netshitenzhe, South Africa’s Ambassador to the Philippines.
GoTyme: changing the digital banking scene
GoTyme is one of the six digital banks that were given a license by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to operate in the Philippines. It hopes to use the resources of the Gokongwei Group, such as malls and convenience stores, to reach out to more Filipinos.
It currently has a mobile app and offers features like a 3% interest rate for savings and a free physical card that can be used worldwide.
On its website, the company describes GoTyme as “a new digital bank that aims to unlock your financial potential through speedy services that you can access with ease.”
While banks both traditional and digital are working to do customer service right, GoTyme promises a human touch to its services: a team of customer success advocates committed to resolving your issues within 2 minutes, and in just a few hours should it demand serious back-end work to fix your problems.
Should you decide to go to a kiosk in person, bank ambassadors will be there to assist you in opening an account or in claiming your free card.
Still according to the website, GoTyme is currently looking to operate 226 cash-in and cash-out locations, with 3,000 cashier points where users can transact without extra charges or hidden fees.