Aiming to strengthen financial literacy and inclusion in the Philippines, eCompareMo—the country’s leading website for banking and insurance services—presented Finovation 2019: Real Problems, Real Solutions.
First held in 2018, the event was expected to facilitate thought leadership to simplify and provide valuable financial services for more stakeholders.
Happening on Sept. 25, at the Manila Peninsula Hotel, Finovation brought together the nation’s leading banks, insurance companies, government regulators, and policymakers to address the financial needs of Filipinos, most especially credit access, via innovative and technical solutions.
Finovation’s goals are motivated by current consumer behavior toward credit and lending. Findings from a previous study conducted by eCompareMo and Rappler show that Filipinos, despite their glaring need for money and tendency to try out riskier lending schemes, engage less in formal financial services.
Some simply dislike the idea of credit cards, find them unnecessary, or think that they may encourage overspending. Others just don’t know how to apply for one, much less use and maintain it.
Those who do attempt to apply for a credit card often realize its value too late, or become discouraged after getting their application rejected. Majority of these respondents think that their salary grade or their credit history is insufficient for a successful application. Others just have completely no idea why they got rejected in the first place.
While the reasons and sentiments vary, they all stem from financial illiteracy and lack of inclusion. eCompareMo CEO Stephanie Chung sees this as a golden opportunity to improve access to proper financial education, reiterating that this is the first step toward reimagining credit access and strengthening financial infrastructure. “Filipinos need to understand that they need to educate themselves first about these financial concepts,” says Chung. “At the same time, industry leaders need to help the public understand what they must do to empower themselves financially, so more people can close the gap between being a rejected applicant to somebody who the banks will consider for credit services.”
Chung advises that educating more people about credit and responsible lending can help them improve not only their credit scores and bank relationships, but also their overall lives. She positions the credit card as an indispensable tool that can assist with both day-to-day needs and emergencies. To achieve these benefits, Chung and her partners have engineered eCompareMo to help more Filipinos espouse responsible credit use through advanced financial technology.
Partnering with leading banks and insurance companies to create a marketplace for their services, eCompareMo also offers the latest innovations to their clients, helping them expand their reach and impact. Users of the portal are seamlessly linked to the financial or insurance product that perfectly fits their needs and budget.
Through Finovation, eCompareMo hopes to spark more conversations and help fine-tune fintech solutions, gathering ideas from diverse thought leaders. Headlining this year’s event is the Governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Benjamin Diokno.
Panel discussions on the current credit and financial inclusion landscape in the Philippines, customer centricity of financial services, credit scoring, and responsible lending will also engage attendees, all geared toward rebuilding and strengthening the necessary infrastructure for financial literacy and inclusion.