What are the secrets of the Philippines’ fastest growing financial institutions? What is it that sets them apart from the competition?
We’ve spoken to dozens of leading organisations to find the answer. We’ve discovered that there is no single reason, but instead several common factors that have driven their extraordinary growth and success.
1. They embrace tech to power growth.
The most successful financial institutions in the Philippines are those that adopt the right tech solutions for their busines plans. By embracing the cloud or API-driven integrations, these organisations can make formerly laborious processes much faster and more efficient, enabling them to win more clients and better serve existing ones.
Agribusiness Rural Bank, better known as Agribank, is among the most successful. It has embraced powerful technology solutions to help deliver loan products, savings and deposits accounts to its customers across the Philippines.
Part of Agribank’s success comes from its openness to technology. It embraced the cloud at the first opportunity, and used Oradian’s open API layer to integrate all its existing loan management applications. It leveraged our flexible platform to develop new apps, in particular a loan officer app that has enabled it to make hundreds – if not thousands – of customer visits each day.
2. They are responsive to uncertainty.
Many firms in the Philippines serve clients in remote, last-mile communities across the country’s myriad islands. This demands a unique business model that accounts for challenging geographies, underdeveloped infrastructure, and inconsistent internet connectivity. Furthermore, in a country like the Philippines, rural communities can easily be isolated by weather events or natural disasters.
Institutions must therefore be extremely responsive and adaptable in the face of uncertainty. Using technology to maintain business continuity and reduce downtime will build trust and confidence among clients. A consistent service is at the heart of a growing bank or lender.
3. They make smart decisions with data.
Data gives institutions a more holistic image of their clients. They can gather and analyse the reams of data produced by their clients to better understand their behaviour, and therefore make smarter decisions about which products to target to different communities or demographics.
Cantilan Bank has harnessed the power of data to great effect. It has used Oradian’s system to gain access to accurate, real-time data about its clients, helping it make smarter, more effective, data-driven strategic decisions. Cantilan even begins its board meetings with a close look at the Oradian dashboard to examine all their key business metrics in real-time.
4. They build reliable partnerships.
When our customers tell us about the secrets of their success, one of the things they consistently speak about is the advantages of having a reliable partner to work alongside them. That means a partner that helps power their growth by enabling them with innovative tech solutions, helping them lead their implementation journey, and by providing them with a responsive customer experience.
A successful financial institution knows how to identify the right technology partner, because they understand the ingredients for long term growth and success.
5. They prioritise value over price.
For a smaller institution, a state-of-the-art core banking system may appear too great an investment. However, successful organisations will understand the long-term value of an advanced tech platform to their growth and expansion. They are more willing to invest in something that may represent a larger immediate-term cost, understanding the benefits of faster and more efficient processes, advanced data analysis and real-time insights.
Is technology the answer?
Consistent among the most successful rural banks and microfinance institutions is their willingness to adopt advanced new technologies to drive their growth. This tech, provided by specialists and implemented by experts, enables organisations to do so much more with relative ease.
But technology is only part of the answer. Success requires a multifaceted approach involving decisive leadership, strong partnerships, long-term planning, and smart decision-making. Only with a holistic approach can financial institutions successfully navigated the path to growth.
To learn more about how advances in core banking technology are driving today’s financial superstars, get in touch with one of our experts.
