BPI BanKo looks to disburse P15B in loans through new app for micro-stores

THE MICROFINANCE ARM of the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) is targeting to disburse P15 billion in loans and to onboard 250,000 clients by the end of the year through its new e-commerce app for sari-sari stores. 

BPI Direct BanKo, Inc. Business Head of Financial Inclusion and Microfinance Solutions Rodolfo Mabiasen, Jr. said the e’Nay application aims to facilitate transactions between distributors and retailers, specifically the sari-sari stores.

“Hopefully, we would have reached a total loan book of P15 billion by the end of the year, and hopefully, we would have lent to over 250,000 clients,” Mr. Mabiasen said at the launch of the app on Monday.

The e’Nay app, launched in partnership with Innovative Research and Intelligent Solutions Corp. (INNOVARIS), will connect micro-retailers to distributors and wholesalers.

Mr. Mabiasen said BanKo has 70,000 accounts enrolled in the app so far. The app’s first enrollees are micro-store owners located in Pampanga, Bulacan, Rizal, and Laguna.

“We will immediately go back to them to teach them how to use the app. By the end of the year, hopefully we can activate all the enrolled account holders that we have,” he said.

“If (we are able to onboard more accounts), we may even reach 100,000 accounts after one year of launch,” he said.

Mr. Mabiasen added that the bank is planning to integrate a credit line where store owners can borrow P5,000 to P25,000 that can be added to their capital.

The credit line will be available for e’Nay users by November or early next year, he added.

BanKo Chairperson Marie Josephine “Jojo” M. Ocampo said the lender aims to provide store owners affordable and easy access to financial solutions through the app.

“We aim to empower sari-sari store owners through the use of technology, enabling them to have an efficient order and inventory management systems, and better and faster payment transactions with distributors and wholesalers,” she said.

Micro-store owners can order consumer goods online using the e’Nay app, including beverages, soups and noodles, home and personal care, snacks, canned food, seasoning, condiments, alcohol and tobacco.

Owners can also make payments with their PondoKo savings account linked to the app. The payment will be credited directly to the distributor, who will deliver the order.

The supplies will be delivered within the same day for orders made before the cut-off from partner distributors located within an 8- to 10-kilometer radius. 

“The app includes basic functionalities such as ordering, inventory control, payments, delivery and logistics. INNOVARIS developed, hosts, and manages the app, while BanKo provides the payment functionality,” BPI said in a statement.

INNOVARIS Chair Joey Mendoza said micro-stores have about 15 to 100 customers a day.

“If 500,000 stores will be connected to the app, and consequently to BPI BanKo’s commercial loans and financial services, the app will serve close to 15 million Filipinos,” he said.

“In BPI, we continue to develop financial products that can help uplift the lives and nurture the future of self-employed microentrepreneurs in the country,” BPI President and Chief Executive Officer Jose Teodoro “TG” K. Limcaoco said.

BanKo has 319 branches in 75 provinces to date. Since 2016, it has supported over 290,000 self-employed microentrepreneurs (SEMEs), informal workers, and the unbanked and underbanked segment, recording over P40 billion in microfinance loans.

The bank added that nearly 32,000 micro-store owners have BanKo loans.

“BPI’s microfinance subsidiary also serves more than 630,000 depositors, highlighting BanKo’s dedication to driving financial inclusion and providing a tangible and positive impact to this sector,” it said.

BPI’s shares closed at P106.3 apiece on Monday, down by seven centavos or 0.65% from its previous close. — Keisha B. Ta-asan