Seeking to harness the Philippines’ pool of young and tech-savvy populace, Dutch financial giant ING has rolled out a local digital retail banking platform as part of its global thrust to promote “branchless” banking.

“We are proud of the launch of our mobile-only retail platform in the Philippines, which has the ING Mobile Banking app as its only business channel,” said Aris Bogdaneris, member of the management board banking and head of challengers and growth markets at ING.

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“Globally, ING is known for pioneering ‘branchless banking’ since 1997 and is positioned as a leading digital bank in Europe and Australia. We are very excited that our expertise in digital banking is now also available to Filipino consumers,” said Hans Sicat, ING Bank country manager in the Philippines.

According to Sicat, the country is the most digital-savvy in Southeast Asia. Thus, “our market research shows that more Filipinos are searching for convenient ways to bank.”

ING Group announced the launch of its all-digital platform in the Philippines when it reported its fourth quarter 2018 financial results last February 6.

ING has a universal bank license and has been present in the Philippines since 1990. Its all-digital bank seeks to “redefine” customer experience in banking, which typically requires visits to bank branches.

Through what it pitches as a “customer-centric” proposition and technology, ING offers straight-through account opening, zero-fee interbank fund transfers and check deposits via its mobile application.

Mohamed Keraine, head of retail in the Philippines said, “Since the launch, we have been gathering feedback from our ‘early adopter’ customers and we are constantly innovating to deliver a differentiating banking experience.”

“We believe that Filipinos’ receptiveness to digital banking will continue to grow and the rollout of initiatives under the National Retail Payment System (NRPS) would fuel this growth. As the first all-digital bank in the Philippines, ING is in a sweet spot to champion digitalization in the banking sector and offer customers the most convenient way to bank,” said Sicat.

NRSP is a policy and regulatory framework that aims to provide direction in carrying out retail payment activities through Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas-supervised financial institutions by defining high-level policies, principles and standards, which when adopted, would lead to the establishment of a “safe, efficient and reliable” retail payment system. The vision is for every Filipino to have easy access to financial services, have accounts to make payments, receive or transfer funds to other accounts anytime and anywhere, at a reasonable price and from any digital device.

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