Smart partners with Seedfinance

MANILA, Philippines – Smart Communications Inc. (SMART) has collaborated with SEEDFINANCE Corp., a provider of wholesale credit to Filipino microfinance institutions (MFIs) and small enterprises, to equip island-based MFIs with mobile-based financial products and technologies that will allow them to send and receive funds using SMART mobile phones.

Dubbed as the Islands Activation Program (IAP), the initiative utilizes Smart Money as a fast and secure alternative to send and receive funds in islands or areas where there is little or no access to formal financial services, and will benefit members of close to a hundred MFIs in various parts of the Philippines.

SEEDFINANCE works with 73 cooperatives with an aggregate clientele base of 1.2 million poor and low-income people.

It signed an agreement with ENCASH to install automated teller machines (ATM) with allied cooperatives for the speedier and more secure receiving and dispensing of cash.

SEEDFINANCE chairman Carlos Ani said in a press briefing that the potential for the deployment of ATMs and starting mobile banking initiatives is immeasurable.

Read more -> http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=611701&publicationSubCategoryId=74

Encash’s advocacy

Encash, owner of a network of ATMs servicing hard-to-reach areas in the countryside, and Seedfinance, a nongovernment organization providing financial services to 61 member-cooperatives, will sign a memorandum of agreement for the country’s first-ever Hosted Core Banking System (HCBS) at the Top of the Citi, Citibank Tower, Valero Street, Makati. The HCBS will provide advanced savings deposits accounting for cooperatives and allow a platform to serve the bottom-of-the-economic-pyramid, that include financial inclusion and advanced financial services

This looming partnership between Encash and Seedfinance establishing the HCBS will enable cooperatives to offer financial services that before were enjoyed only by large-bank users. When running full steam, the HCBS will be offered to all cooperatives, countrywide.

Also, since the HCBS will be interfaced to the Encash ATM switch, which, in turn, is connected to the MegaLink switch, cooperative cardholders will eventually be able to withdraw funds from any ATM in the country. The business impact of the tie-up is expected to alter the banking landscape with a hitherto unheard-of banking innovation.

Read more -> http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/home/opinion/1008-sober-take-on-pag-ibig-row

ATM developer ENCASH eyes foreign partners for expansion

MANILA, Philippines – Independent ATM developer ENCASH is in talks with potential foreign investors for a strategic partnership as the outsourcing of automated teller machines
(ATMs) remains in huge demand, the company’s top executive said.

ENCASH specializes in outsourcing ATM services and its accompanying infrastructure, mainly targeting thrift and rural banks, cooperative banks and cooperatives.

Eric Severino, ENCASH chief executive officer said among the prospective foreign investors are Microvest (USA), Planet Finance (France), Responsibility (Switzerland), Developing World Markets, SNS and Oikocredit.

To grow faster, we need a strategic partner or partners,” he said in a press briefing yesterday.

A member of the MegaLink network, ENCASH has already deployed 256 ATMs and registered transactions worth more than P5 billion at the end of August 2010.

The outsourcing specialist is aiming to hit the 300 ATM mark by the end of 2010, and double this year’s output next year.

Recently, it signed an agreement for the initial fielding of several ATMs to cooperatives allied with SeedFinance, a specialized financing firm with principal focus on microfinance institutions (MFIs), including rural banks and cooperatives.

SeedFinance is currently working with 73 MFIs with an aggregate clientele base of 1.2 million.

Read more -> http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=610228&publicationSubCategoryId=66