Overview

Land Bank Philippines is headquartered in Manila, Philippines, with more than 400 branches across the country with a huge share of their customers living on far-flung remote islands. There are plans to expand the footprint exponentially.

Land Bank set out several objectives, including the setting of a Customer-Centric Standard Operating Model for Microfinance. The business model required the maximum outreach to customers in remote locations and the need to increase the productivity and value of their Loan Officers and Field Agents. Its customers often had to commute long distances, at a cost, just to perform simple banking transactions, leading to a waste of precious time and additional expenses. Many business processes, including Customer Authentication, were manual, cumbersome, and time-consuming. It was an inefficient use of staff, and human errors were evident. Compounding these issues was the unavailability of a proper 3G/4G network for reliable data transmission and connectivity, which posed the risk of latency in data synchronization.

The project delivered a Hybrid Hub and Spoke Business Model was adopted, creating a critical mass with underwriting by a Community Head with services provided both In-branch and via agents. LandBank selected Bank-Genie’s Genie-Branch, which provided the complete range of branchless banking features and functionalities, including Loan Origination, Disbursals, Collections, Repayments, and other operations.

Implementation Process:

The program was split into two Phases to enable Land Bank to seamlessly move from Manual to Digital. The best practices adopted were to take on the existing solution “As Is” with minimal tweaking to monetize LandBank’s investment as quickly as possible. Genie-Branch was an 80-85% straight fit with only a 15-20% enhancement effort to adapt to local regulations and processes.

Given the complexity, the program was driven by the Bank-Genie Senior Team on the one hand and on the other hand by the Land Bank Senior Management Team. The program was divided into 4 workstreams, eKYC, Account Opening, Branch and Branchless Operations, and Interfaces. Each workstream was driven by a different team and centrally governed by a key driver at each end. The scope was determined centrally to eliminate duplication and overlaps, whereas project plans for each workstream were decided by the concerned teams. The individual plans were then centrally agreed upon for purposes of optimization and prioritization. All change requests were handled via a toll-gate committee consisting of representatives from Land Bank and Bank-Genie. Daily meetings, discussions, and notes were transcribed and agreed upon. The development, delivery, and review were handled by a combination of Waterfall, Agile, and Scrum, as a single approach would not have worked for a program this complex. Apart from the daily notes, weekly status reports were agreed upon between both teams before Publishing following a RAG approach. Green marked on-track tasks, amber denoted tasks that may slip, and red flags were used to mark tasks that had slipped. The approach strived to move Red to Amber and Amber to Green using senior intervention. Monthly Reports were sent to Senior Stakeholders for Reporting and guidance, and wherever and whenever the SWG – Stakeholder Working Group was needed, it was invoked.

Benefits Achieved

Some key highlights of the implementation are:

• The Bank Genie app contributed to financial inclusion and helpedopen 200k+ accounts every month.
• All banking transactions are being provided without any brick-and-mortar structure to the same customers.
• The POS Cash Out Partners and Agent Banking Partners working for Land Bank have grown exponentially due to Bank Genie’s Agency Banking Solution.

Conclusion

Land Bank Agent Banking (AB) Partners are one of the retail channels to promote inclusive growth. This program supports the national government’s objectives towards greater financial inclusion through partnerships with eligible organizations that help bring selected banking services to places where banks are not accessible. All Bank-Genie Products are designed with Remote Operational Capabilities and features; therefore, they are not only perfect for DR/BCP but will outlive the BCP phase and are indeed the standard for the “new normal.”

Key Facts:

• Bank Name: Land Bank of the Philippines
• Founded In: 1963
• Vendor Name: Bank Genie
• Solution Implemented: Agent Banking Partner solution to offer all banking transactions in a branchless setting.
• Timeline: January 2021