The Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK) is ramping-up efforts towards expanding financial inclusion in the country with the nationwide rollout of the LANDBANKasama Program that will provide basic banking services in far-flung and underserved communities, also known as Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas (GIDAs).
The LANDBANKasama Program was launched as part of the state-run Bank’s Digital Financial Inclusion Caravan on 18 January 2024 with simultaneous events in 11 sites nationwide in the provinces of Batanes, Tarlac, Quezon, Oriental Mindoro, Camarines Sur, Bohol, Negros Occidental, Leyte, Cagayan de Oro City, Davao del Norte, and Sulu.
The new LANDBANKasama Partners tapped in these sites will add to the Bank’s 1,113 accredited local partners operating 1,870 cash-out terminals as of December 2023.
The LANDBANK Digital Financial Inclusion Caravan, which promotes digital banking and the habit of saving through financial education, introduced the LANDBANKasama Program and the new LANDBANK PISO Plus, among the Bank’s latest offerings.
“The LANDBANK Digital Financial Inclusion Caravan represents our steadfast commitment to fostering financial inclusion and empowering the underserved. We will continue to leverage on meaningful partnerships and digital technology to reach and serve even the farthest corners of the country,” said LANDBANK President and CEO Lynette V. Ortiz.
Expanded financial access through LANDBANKasama Program
To ensure financial access even in the most remote and underserved areas, LANDBANK is expanding its strategic partnerships with local players—client cooperatives, associations, rural banks, local government units (LGUs), micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and private entities, among others—to provide basic banking services on behalf of the Bank.
LANDBANKasama is a rebrand of the Bank’s Agent Banking Program (ABP), which better captures the goals of the Program in creating strategic points of banking access and promoting collaboration among local players towards expanding financial inclusion.
LANDBANKasama Partners provide services such as cash withdrawals, cash deposit, fund transfers, bills payment, and balance inquiry, while helping to save on transportation costs for clients who previously needed to travel to other towns and cities for these basic banking transactions.
The program benefits beneficiaries of the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) Program of the National Government, as well as government employees, teachers, students, and other private clients from underserved communities.
Banking and saving made easier with PISO Plus
To encourage more Filipinos into the habit of saving, the Bank also launched its newest product, the LANDBANK PISO Plus, which is a basic deposit account that interested customers can conveniently open online through the LANDBANK Mobile Banking App (MBA).
With no initial deposit and no maintaining balance required, opening a LANDBANK PISO Plus account provides customers instant access to the Bank’s other digital banking services. These include fund transfers, bills payment, e-commerce transactions, and cardless withdrawals through the LANDBANK MBA.
There is also no required average daily balance for the account to earn interest. Alongside a virtual Visa Debit Card, customers can opt to obtain a physical card for a nominal fee.
