MANILA: CIMB Bank Bhd (CIMB), through its branch that is being set up in the Philippines, CIMB Bank Philippines Inc, recently entered into partnership agreements with CIS Bayad Center Inc (Bayad Center) and FINTQnologies Corp (FINTQ), both affiliates of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) group of companies.
This marks a major milestone in CIMB’s expansion into the Philippines, in preparation for the establishment of its operations in the fourth quarter of 2018 (4Q18).
In a press statement, CIMB Group chief executive officer (CEO) Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Aziz commented, “We are pleased that our relationship with PLDT has evolved into strong, strategic partnerships with its related companies.
“We are confident that by leveraging on these partners’ local strengths as well as CIMB’s extensive digital experience, we will be able to provide our customers in the Philippines with a seamless digital banking experience.
“CIMB is excited with the prospects that the Philippines market offers and we are also confident that our differentiated strategy based on digital and partnerships will bring a strong value proposition into the market.”
PLDT and FINTQ chairman Manuel V Pangilinan added, “We are excited to collaborate with CIMB in this fast-growing FinTech space. This is in line with our mission to collaborate with partners and develop mutually beneficial propositions. This is just the start of a long-term fruitful partnership with one of Asean’s largest banks.”
Bayad Center is a pioneer and leader in the outsourced payment collection industry in the Philippines with more than 12,000 payment channels nationwide.
Leveraging on its extensive network and broad range of services could help scale up CIMB’s reach to customers across the Philippines effectively.
FINTQ is a local leader in providing digital financial solutions and interactions.
Among the various aspects, the partnership with FINTQ could allow CIMB to leverage on the subscriber base and customer database of Lendr, one of FINTQ’s proprietary platforms.
The signing of the partnership agreements was attended by senior officials from all three parties including CIMB Group’s Consumer Banking CEO Samir Gupta, chief strategy officer Gurdip Singh Sidhu, and Digital Banking and Decision Management senior managing director Vijay Manoharan.
The PLDT team, led by Pangilinan, also included FINTQ’s president and CEO Orlando B Vea, managing director Lito Villanueva, Bayad Center’s president and CEO Manuel Lorenzo L Tuason, senior vice president and chief operating officer Francispito P Quevedo, and Strategic Innovations Office head Isryn Piah DR Beltran.