No matter where you live — be it in the boondocks or an isolated coastal town — you can now easily open a bank account and start saving for your future.
This vision is slowly starting to come to fruition after the Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK) started rolling out a series of caravans nationwide in a bid to bring banking and financing services closer to far-flung and underserved communities.
And what better way to do this than to introduce the bank’s digital products and affordable loan offerings themselves to thousands of families living in these hard-to-reach communities throughout the country.
Lynette V. Ortiz (middle), President and CEO of LANDBANK, is shown here after leading the rollout of the Bilis Ipon: Digital Financial Inclusion Caravan in Caoayan, Ilocos Sur to bring banking and financing services closer to local farmers, fishers, and 4Ps beneficiaries.
LANDBANK has successfully conducted the “Bilis Ipon: Digital Financial Inclusion Caravan” in 13 provinces this year, including communities classified as geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas (GIDA).
Over 700 farmers, fishers, Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries, and local partners have participated in insightful discussions and demonstrations on how to boost their savings and livelihood.
The caravan offers participants an on-the-spot opening of the new LANDBANK PISO Plus basic deposit account, with no initial deposit and maintaining balance. The rollouts also feature the new AGRISENSO Lending Program, designed to provide affordable credit assistance for small farmers and Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs), among other agriculture players.
“We at LANDBANK believe financial inclusion is the cornerstone of empowered and resilient communities. We remain steadfast with our commitment to bridging the financial gap by bringing accessible banking solutions closer to Filipinos, including those in remote and underserved areas,” said Lynette V. Ortiz, President and CEO of LANDBANK.
To date, LANDBANK remains as the only bank present in all 82 provinces of the country, with a physical presence in 1,437 cities and municipalities out of the total 1,634 for an 88% nationwide coverage as of January 2024.
To better serve GIDAs, LANDBANK is also partnering with local players — cooperatives, rural banks, local government units (LGUs), micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and private entities — to provide basic banking services through its LANDBANKasama Program.
The collaboration helps local customers save on transportation costs as they no longer need to travel to other towns and cities to perform cash withdrawals and cash deposits, fund transfers, bills payments, and balance inquiries, among basic banking transactions.
Another leg of the “Bilis-Ipon” caravan was held in Ilocos Sur last February 1, which saw LANDBANK sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Nueva Segovia Consortium of Cooperatives (NSCC) to onboard more than 400 cooperative-affiliates as new LANDBANKasama Partners.
The bank currently has over 1,080 LANDBANKasama Partners nationwide operating 1,825 point-of-sale (POS) terminals.
The next run of the LANDBANK Bilis Ipon: Digital Financial Inclusion Caravan will be held in Nueva Ecija, Cavite, Ilocos Norte, and Negros Occidental, in line with the Bank’s continuing efforts to promote financial inclusion and inclusive development in the country.
