Micro finance: major opportunity
The award-winning Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) is the oldest bank in the country, with a distinguished history that spans more than a century. It is also the second largest bank in terms of assets and the largest in terms of market capitalization. Readers of the Asian Wall Street Journal have rated the bank number one in financial soundness and it, is quickly earning a reputation as being a dynamic institution that caters to all sectors of Philippine society.
"We have always been a catalyst for growth," says BPI President Aurelio R. Montinola III. "We recognized potential in the consumer business as early as 1985. We established a bank called BPI Family Bank, which has become the consumer-lending leader." BPI's series of innovative technologies helped shape the Philippine banking industry. It is currently targeting the overseas Filipino market as part of bank's expansion strategy with its "Expat Pinoy (Filipino!" program.
"Our motto has always been 'Go where your customers are: We have the best technology and a robust operating system," Mr. Montinola explains. At the local level, BPI's corporate social responsibility programs are helping Filipinos throughout the country realize their dreams. The bank's financial management advisors travel around the nation offering advice to small and mediumsized companies. BPI is also investing heavily in micro financing initiatives.
Mr. Montinola says, "We are really excited about the micro finance side. We have set up a training program in Ateneo to help teach people who want to enter micro finance. We will join up with an institution that has developed micro finance software and help introduce that to the people. We will also help subsidize the software costs. It is what we call capability building."