Bpi Globe Banko and Inclusive Banking in the Philippines

Abstract

In early 2014, John Rubio became CEO of BPI Globe BanKO, the three-year-old mobile-based savings bank that was far from accomplishing its mission to bring banking to the majority of Filipinos who did not have access to basic financial services, and to do so profitably. Rubio formulated a three-pillar strategy to increase customer acquisition and financial product offerings. His goals were to reach 1 million customers by year-end 2014 and supplant high-cost informal lenders. There was enormous potential but limited time, and Rubio needed to make a decision. Which of the current initiatives would lead to sustainable profitability and the ultimate goal of providing banking services to the masses? Excerpt UVA-GEM-0137 Oct. 30, 2015 BPI Globe BanKO and Inclusive Banking in the Philippines In mid-2014, John Rubio, the CEO of BPI Globe BanKO, had many things on his mind. Most had to do with problems in the Philippines that, in his opinion, needed to be addressed; they included issues in education (“So many brilliant people in the Philippines have to drop out of high school after their second year so they can work on the farm”), health care delivery (which was constrained), and housing (the country faced a 4-to-5-million-unit housing deficit in the next three years). But the critical challenge for Rubio was how to help reduce the country's high poverty rate by bringing financial services to every Filipino. In a country in which only one in four households had access to banking services, it was clear that much was still to be done. Time was not on Rubio's side. The company he took over in late 2013 was incurring sizable losses from legacy operations. Given no more than three years to turn things around, he needed to make swift decisions on strategies that could ultimately lead to sustainable profitability and help move the country toward an inclusive financial system. The Philippine Economy and Banking . . .