MANILA — CIMB said on Thursday it would focus on strengthening its digital banking services by offering solutions focused on cashless transactions as it anticipates further growth in online spending.
CIMB recently launched a virtual debit card as more Filipinos shift to online for shopping, ordering food via apps and buying plane tickets online.
CIMB Bank Philippines Chief Marketing Officer Bunny Aguilar said in a briefing that the focus is on mobile-first digital banking solutions as a commercial bank.
He said CIMB has no plans of opening a physical branch for now or in applying for a digital bank license if the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas opens up the application again.
A digital bank is under a new and different category, under a framework approved by the BSP in 2020. Only 6 banks have digital banking licenses from the central bank. Commercial and traditional banks, meanwhile, have physical branches as well as digital channels to offer their services.
Aguilar said the projections that online spending could wane, due to the reopening of physical shops, did not happen.
“Gigil na gigil ang mga tao to treat themselves to something nice for the trauma that people experienced during the lockdown. So totoo talaga ang revenge spending,” Aguilar said.
(The people are extremely eager to treat themselves to something nice for the trauma they experienced during the lockdown. So the concept of revenge spending is indeed true)
“People kind of got comfortable with anything online, including online transactions. Because we were kinda forced to do it during the lockdown and people felt na parang ok naman pala siya,” he said.
CIMB’s focus on digital banking is their contribution to the Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap of the BSP, Aguilar said.
The central bank aims to transform half of the volume of payments in the country into digital form and bring 70 of Filipinos into the formal financial system.
Image by: Pixabay
