If you think being able to make withdrawals and similar other bank transactions in the Philippines won’t be possible after office hours, think again.
In a press statement, Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank) announced recently that account-holders of the state-run bank can now transact for FREE in select ATMs located at 7-Eleven convenience stores.
“Regular Landbank ATM cards, debit cards, and prepaid cards can now be used for cash withdrawal and balance inquiry, free-of-charge, in 1,980 7-Eleven ATMs located in Metro Manila, as well as in Pampanga, Bataan, Cebu, and the CALABARZON area,” the statement said.
The press statement further said that its cardholders may also avail of the increased cash withdrawal limit of P20,000 per transaction, up from the previous maximum withdrawal limit of P10,000.
Landbank partnered with Pito Axm Platform Inc. (PAPI), a fully owned subsidiary of Seven Bank Ltd. of Japan which operates the ATMs of 7-Eleven, to be able to make this 24/7 banking experience possible.
7-Eleven ATMs to benefit millions of previously unbanked Filipinos
Cecilia C. Borromeo, President and CEO of LANDBANK, reiterated the bank’s commitment to expanding the accessibility of its financial services, saying,“ LANDBANK continues to leverage strategic partnerships to accelerate financial inclusion in the country. We are committed to expanding the accessibility of our services, especially to the unbanked and to the underserved.”
Included in Landbank clients that would benefit from this development are the 8.3 million previously unbanked Filipinos who were recently onboarded to the formal financial system during the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) Project registration, the bank’s CEO further said.
Also included are about 10 million beneficiaries of the Conditional Cash Transfer and Unconditional Cash Transfer (CCT/UCT) Programs of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
Convenient banking made closer and safer, 24/7
For his part, Jose Victor P. Paterno, President and CEO of Philippine Seven, said, “Our stores now offer not only a wider assortment of merchandise, but we are also leveraging our store network to offer bills payments, e-wallet cash-ins, and other financial services to serve our communities better.”
He adds that the installation of ATMs inside 7-Eleven stores is a solution to the convenience stores’ cash management requirements.
“The sales are deposited by our store operators, and the ATMs recycle the cash to fund withdrawals of the customers of the different banks. This also creates a lot of value to individual bank account owners because of having ATMs available 24/7 in a safe and secure location,” Paterno noted.
“Installing ATMs in our stores is actually one of the key pillars of our Convenience Plus strategy. This strategy has been our approach to meeting more customer needs since the start of the pandemic,” he beamed.