Ayala Corporation, through its subsidiaries Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) and Globe Telecom, reaches out to the untapped Philippine microfinance market with the announcement of its newest venture, BPI Globe BanKO.

A mobile savings bank which now absorbs and expands the wholesale microfinance portfolio of BPI, BPI Globe BanKO aims to provide the microfinance institutions (MFIs) much needed funding and development programs, knowing that the latter plays an important role in providing capital to Filipino micro-entrepreneurs. The ultimate thrust is to have new products that link mobile with microfinance activities to reach out to more than half the Philippine population still unable to have access to various financial services.

In 1989, BPI was the first commercial bank to grant loans to MFIs through the BPI Foundation. In 2006, the BPI Microfinance Unit was formally incorporated into the bank's business. BPI Globe BanKO is set to open its main office at Greenhills on February 23, 2010.
    
"The gap between demand and supply for microfinance funding is immense. Based on the figures released by the Asian Development Bank for 2007, only eight percent of the demand was met. BPI Globe BanKO will work hand-in-hand with MFIs to service the entrepreneurial poor even at the base of the economic pyramid," says BPI Globe BanKO president Teresita B. Tan.
      
As a product of the synergy of Ayala's thrust for sustainable development, Globe Telecom's innovative technology and BPI's financial service expertise, the bank is set to provide MFIs with four major services. These are:

• wholesale microfinance loans
  
• capacity-building loans
  
• electronic banking
  
• partnerships with international guarantors 
  

MFIs can also avail of capacity-building programs. BPI Globe BanKO, together with the Institute of Social Sciences of the Ateneo de Manila University, will bring trainers to MFIs in different parts of the country to conduct courses on various microfinance concerns, ranging from governance and portfolio management, to product development and management information system (MIS).