Wednesday, 24 April 2024
UBX mobile ATMs to expedite government COVID-19 subsidies in the Philippines
UBX, the fintech company of Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank), started deploying a rapid and remote mobile-enabled automated teller machine (ATM) solution in response to COVID-19 as part of its i2i platform.
With the i2i Mobile ATM, rural banks and financial cooperatives across the Philippines are enabled to pay out a wide range of government subsidies direct to beneficiaries in the historically underserved countryside. This will help address the growing need to access cash, as a result of the extended enhanced community quarantine in Luzon, the largest and most populous island in the country.
i2i’s Mobile ATM technology works just like a standard ATM and allows rural banks, financial cooperatives, their agents and associated merchants to offer cash out and balance inquiry transactions for all locally issued debit and ATM cards.
Financial institutions that avail the i2i Mobile ATM will receive the i2i Mobile ATM devices within days of signing up. They are enabled to pay out government subsidies and positioned to participate in the emergency subsidy program under the Philippine government’s Bayanihan to Heal as One Act.
UBX developed the mobile ATM in partnership with Irish financial services group Fexco, which currently employs more than 2,400 people across the globe, focused on delivering technology-enabled financial services to a wide range of banking and fintech partners. This initiative with UBX will build on the existing partnership in the Philippines.
Fexco Philippines’s chief executive officer Cathal Brendan said, “We are very pleased to be partnering with UBX to assist Filipinos in this time of need. This partnership will allow us to rapidly deliver crucial financial services to consumers across the UBX and UBP banking partner network. Fexco and UBX are both dedicated to enhancing financial inclusion for both the businesses and the people of the Philippines.”
The UBX i2i Network includes rural banks, thrift banks, savings banks, cooperatives and other non-banking financial institutions. Since launching its technology platform in April 2019, the network is over 110 members strong with nearly 1,000 branches between them.
UBX Philippines’ chief executive officer John Januszczak said, “By digitally connecting community-based financial institutions best positioned to serve the financially excluded, the i2i Network and i2i Mobile ATM are extremely well poised to support our government’s effort to contain the pandemic while enabling the provision of much needed relief to those affected.”
Re-disseminated by The Asian Banker
