FINTQ named FinTech Company of the Year by Philippines Best Brand Awards 2018.
In Photo (from left): FINTQ Digital Transformation Lead Cristine Mallare; FINTQ Managing Director Lito Villanueva; and FINTQ Digital Transformation Lead Axcel Anonuevo.

FINTQ, the financial technology arm of PLDT and Smart’s Voyager Innovations, was named the ‘FinTech Company of the Year’ at the recently held Philippines Best Brands Awards 2018 last June 8 at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati City. 

Holding the award is FINTQ Managing Director Lito Villanueva. “We are grateful for the trust given to us by our partners in helping them grow their business through digital platforms and solutions, which allows them to extend financial services to the public,” Villanueva said. “This award further strengthens our mission of creating sustainable, high impact and socially-relevant inclusive digital finance accelerators,” he added.

The Philippines Best Brand Awards recognizes outstanding brands and marketers who have achieved extraordinary success from effective and innovative marketing practices in the country. Held to promote marketing excellence and foster marketing awareness in the professional community, the award-giving body aims to disseminate and educate the industry on the importance of branding in the Philippines.

FINTQnologies Corp. is the leader and award-winning financial technology provider of customer-centric, demand-driven, mobile-first, value-creating, and inclusive digital financial innovations. It is the largest and the only FinTech business in the country with diverse digital banking and finance portfolio of platforms including lending, security, micro-savings, micro-investments, insurance, disbursements, micro-credit and virtual banking, among others. For more information about FINTQ and all of its products and services, please visit www.fintq.com.

In photo (L-R): Enterprise Asia International Advisory Panel member Cebu Rep. and House Deputy Speaker Gwendolyn Garcia; FINTQ Managing Director and KasamaKA Founder and Lead Convenor Lito Villanueva; and Enterprise Asia President Dato’ William Ng.

KasamaKA, the financial inclusion program of FINTQnologies Corp.’s (FINTQ), was recognized as one of the winners from 11 Asian countries for the Social Empowerment Category at the recently held Asia Responsible Enterprise Awards 2018 (AREA 2018). FINTQ, the financial technology arm of PLDT’s Voyager Innovations, is the first and only technology firm from Southeast Asia to receive an award for this category.

KasamaKA is a grassroots-based, self-help, bottom-up digital-enabled social intervention to accelerate financial literacy and inclusive growth. It champions sachet financial services for unbanked and underserved Filipinos through platforms and services for digital lending and microinsurance. With partners, it will also make available microsavings, microinvestments, alternative credit scoring, eKYC, and a farm-to-marketplace digital agricultural value chain platform called Accelerated Growth and Rural Inclusion or AGRI.

“KasamaKA is our solution to address the two biggest barriers to inclusion – low financial literacy among Filipinos and lack of convenient and affordable access to financial services,” said Lito Villanueva, FINTQ Managing Director and KasamaKA Founder and Lead Convenor.“ The financial inclusion program is in line with the goal of FINTQ and Voyager Innovations to build a critical mass of 30 million Filipinos included in the formal financial system by 2020,” he added.

KasamaKA’s approach to financial inclusion is to promulgate financial literacy among Filipinos not primarily through sit-down trainings, but through an innovative digital referral community income builder program.

Becoming part of KasamaKA is easy. One can become a member and get rewards by simply texting KKK to 29292 or by registering at www.kasamaka.com to start referring friends, families. “It is growing financial inclusion starting from very personal and community grassroots level,” Villanueva explained.

AREA 2018, organized by Enterprise Asia, recognizes and honors Asian businesses for championing sustainable and responsible entrepreneurship. It is Asia’s leading award for responsible entrepreneurship. Judging, composed of an international panel, was based on innovation, social impact, and sustainability.

FINTQnologies Corp. is the leader and award-winning financial technology provider of customer-centric, demand-driven, mobile-first, value-creating, and inclusive digital financial innovations. It is the largest and the only FinTech business in the country with diverse digital banking and finance portfolio of platforms including lending, security, micro-savings, micro-investments, insurance, disbursements, micro-credit and virtual banking, among others. For more information about FINTQ and all of its products and services, please visit www.fintq.com.

In photo: FINTQ Managing Director Lito Villanueva presents KasamaKA to the members of 1Cooperative Insurance System of the Philippines during their General Assembly at the Royce Hotel in Clark Freeport Zone.

In Photo: FINTQ Managing Director Lito Villanueva and MyPhone President and CEO David Lim discussing on how cooperatives can innovate their services during the recent General Assembly of 1Cooperative Insurance System of the Philippines members at the Royce Hotel in Clark Freeport Zone.

FINTQnologies Corp. (FINTQ), the financial technology arm of Voyager Innovations, further strengthened its thrust for inclusive digital finance by helping cooperatives understand and undertake digital transformation.

At the recent general assembly of the 1Cooperative Insurance System of the Philippines (1CISP) at the Royce Hotel in Clark Freeport Zone, FINTQ Managing Director Lito Villanueva said FINTQ is assisting cooperatives in the country to bridge the gap between their “traditional members” and prospective “younger clients” they cater through the use of different digital platforms.

“We want to close the gap between the digital customers and what the analog business delivers. We want to help cooperatives with old or no IT infrastructure at all to connect with millennials who are the disruptors of businesses because they demand fast services that answer their needs. We want to help the cooperatives disrupt themselves and be ready with what young generations will demand from them,” Villanueva said.

Villanueva, speaking to at least 1,000 cooperative officers from all over the country, said the cooperatives should embrace the digital disruption and reinvent themselves.

“The current and next generation customers will continue to disrupt industries. Fusing technology with the strategy is the way forward,” he said.

Villanueva pointed out that when a company undergoes digital transformation this translates to “cultural and organizational shifts, happy and engaged customers, agility at the core, new mind set, genuine and dynamic collaboration, and an empowered and pro-active workforce.”

For FINTQ, he said, the financial technology firm of PLDT and Smart’s Voyager Innovation will continue to develop and launch platforms and apps to facilitate and enhance digital financial services to a larger number of people especially those living in the 4th,  5th, and 6th class municipalities in the Philippines where the average annual income is Php35 million and below.

“The financial inclusion journey is a gradual program making Filipinos move from being unbanked to semi-banked to banked,” Villanueva said.

“We want Filipinos to be able to avail and have access to affordable financial products and services. The Philippines is leading in Asia in terms of economic development. And the question to every Filipino is – kasama ka ba sa pagbangon ng bayan?” he said.

To further accelerate inclusive digital finance in the country, FINTQ introduced KasamaKA to the members of 1CISP. KasamaKA is a grassroots-based, self-help, and digital-enabled social intervention and last mile solution to promote financial literacy and inclusive growth. At the same time, it is a cost-efficient, convenient, secured, and transparent shared services platform to expand the reach of banks, financial services and insurance sector to the unbanked and underserved Filipinos providing microsavings, microinsurance, microinvestments, and lending products.

FINTQ, through its insurance company partners, is giving away free microinsurance* and all participants of the general assembly of the 1CISP were given the opportunity to avail of this. To avail of the free microinsurance until December 31, 2018, an individual has to register as a KasamaKA member by simply texting KKK to 29292 or signing up at KasamaKA’s website:  www.kasamaka.com. For SMS registration, type in REG <Space><First Name>/<Last Name>/<Date of Birth, MMDDYYYY>/<Address> and send to 29292. For website registration, provide your Full Name (Kumpletong Pangalan); Date of Birth (Araw ng Kapanganakan); Nationality (Nasyonalidad); Present Address (Kasalukuyang Tirahan); Source of Income  (Saan galing ang iyong kasalukuyang kita); and Mobile Number. To know more, visit www.kasamaka.com

FINTQnologies Corp. is the leader in customer-centric, demand driven, evidence-based, and mobile-first digital financial innovations by way of engaging regulators, enabling enterprises, and empowering individuals. FINTQ is committed to accelerating universal digital access to finance at scale via pioneering financial technologies in growth and emerging markets. It is the financial technology arm of Voyager Innovations under the PLDT Group. To know more, visit http://www.fintq.com
*DTI Permit No. 2246.

In photo (L-R) League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) Deputy Secretary-General for Luzon Gov. Imee R. Marcos, LPP National President Gov. Ryan Luis V. Singson, FINTQ Managing Director and KasamaKA Founder and Lead Convenor Lito Villanueva, LPP National Chairman Gov. Al Francis C. Bichara, PLDT Group Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan, Voyager Innovations President and CEO Orlando B. Vea, and LPP Board Member Gov. Albert Raymond S. Garcia.

In photo (L-R) Voyager Innovations President and CEO Orlando B. Vea, PLDT Group Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan, League of Provinces of the Philippines National Chairman Gov. Al Francis C. Bichara, and FINTQ Managing Director and KasamaKA Founder and Lead Convenor Lito Villanueva.

KasamaKA, a pioneering grassroots-based movement aimed at empowering the unbanked population, has been officially adopted as the financial inclusion and social advocacy program across 81 provinces in the country through a resolution signed by the National Executive Board of the League of Provinces in the Philippines (LPP).

Through KasamaKA, FINTQ – the financial arm of PLDT and Smart’s Voyager Innovations – is enabling bank and non-bank financial institutions to offer “sachet” financial services such as microsavings, microinsurance, lending, and micro investment, among others–a first in the Philippines. This initiative will tap millions of sari-sari stores, which can act as correspondent agents of banks. Soon, Filipinos can then access these affordable services and get incentives when they become a KasamaKA member. This initiative will also cover alternative credit scoring for the unbanked and underserved to access affordable financing with corresponding electronic Know-Your Customer (eKYC) capabilities.

Through a National Executive Board Resolution adopted and signed on May 18 by the LPP, composed of the governors of all 81 provinces in the country, pledged to encourage their constituents to become part of KasamaKA by conducting financial literacy and education campaigns. Together with various partners and with the support of the provincial governments, FINTQ is conducting financial inclusion caravans all over the country.

“As governors, our sole obligation is to uplift the lives of our people, particularly the unbanked and underserved. Through our association, we have adopted KasamaKA as an effective and convenient alternative platform that can quickly scale financial inclusion in the Philippines, most especially in the countryside,” said Albay Governor and LPP National Chairman Al Francis C. Bichara.

“KasamaKA is one of our main platforms to make the vision of Voyager to include 30 million Filipinos in the formal financial system by 2020 a reality. This is in strong support of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ National Strategy for Financial Inclusion, and President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s initiative of reducing poverty incidence in the country,” said PLDT and Smart Chairman, President, and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan.

FINTQ Managing Director Lito Villanueva said: “The adoption of KasamaKA by the League of Provinces will further accelerate financial inclusivity in the country. We are grateful to receive their all-out support and to collaborate with proactive local leaders in providing a more affordable and accessible alternative to build an inclusive digital economy.”

A major component of the initiative that will be implemented in cooperation with the League of Provinces is the digital end-to-end agricultural value chain platform called AGRI (Accelerated Growth and Rural Inclusion) that will connect farmers and fisherfolks to consumers for optimized productivity and greater efficiencies. It includes digital financial services, digital commerce through a marketplace and logistics management.

KasamaKa is an income and community builder platform and program that aims to spread greater access to finance to more Filipinos to steer  them away from informal lenders by giving them access to reasonable cost of credit, and introducing them to a complete suite of digital financial services.

To date, it has received strong support from various sectors. Recently, KasamaKA has also been adopted by the Liga ng mga Barangay sa Pilipinas, making it as the national program to accelerate financial inclusion across over 42,000 barangays nationwide.

To become a KasamaKa builder, interested individuals only have to register via www.kasamaka.com or text KKK to 29292 to receive their unique Builder ID, which they can give out to family, friends, and community members who would like to avail themselves of various digital financial services such as loans, insurance, micro-savings, and micro-investments, among others. For every successful application, the KasamaKA member  will  earn for himself as much as P300.

Recently, KasamaKA and Lendr–FINTQ’s digital lending platform–were named as the Most Innovative Fintech Collaboration by The Asset Triple A Digital Awards 2017. It also bagged a Gold Anvil at the 53rd Anvil Awards for the Specialized Public Relations Programs: Advocacy Campaign category.

FINTQnologies, Corp. (FINTQ) is the global pioneer in mobile-first financial technology innovations for emerging markets. It is the financial technology arm of PLDT and Smart’s Voyager Innovations. Working in collaboration with partners such as banks, financial institutions and governments, among its key thrusts is to accelerate inclusive digital finance in the era of digital economy. Its platforms and services encompass areas including loans, insurance, micro savings, disbursements, anti-fraud security, and cloud e-banking platforms. For more information, visit www.fintq.com and www. lendr.com.ph.