Philippines: Smart, LandBank in Mobile Commerce Partnership for OFWs

MANILA — Leading wireless services provider Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART) and the Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK), one of the country�s top five banks, recently entered into a strategic partnership that will push for the use of mobile commerce in delivering fast and accessible financial services to benefit LANDBANK�s OFW clientele. LANDBANK and SMART also agreed to cooperate in developing products and services to address the requirements of LANDBANK�s priority sectors � farmers and fisher folk, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and micro entrepreneurs, local government units (LGUs).

Under the memorandum of agreement, LANDBANK will utilize SMART�s mobile commerce platform, the SMART Services Hub, in developing new remittance and financial services and products such as LANDBANK�s Cash Card. The SMART Services Hub is SMART�s global financial and telecommunications services model based on its award-winning Smart Money electronic financial services platform.

�We are proud to mark yet another milestone for the Smart Services Hub. It is our pleasure to provide the country�s premier financial institution with our tried and tested, and highly successful mobile commerce solutions. We are optimistic that our partnership with LANDBANK will enable the bank to reach out to the unbanked and underbanked in the countryside, and around the world.” said Napoleon L. Nazareno, SMART president and CEO.

�LANDBANK welcomes this partnership with SMART as it will provide us with more and better opportunities to enhance our services to our OFW clients. Combining the advantage of SMART�s advanced mobile commerce technology with LANDBANK�s strong countryside network, will benefit our OFWs in terms of having a reliable, efficient and faster way of sending their remittances to their families back home � wherever they may be,� LANDBANK president and chief executive officer Gilda E. Pico said.

The partnership is in line with SMART�s efforts in promoting m-commerce and mobile phone-based remittances. Two months ago, SMART successfully launched the Smart Services Hub at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. Through this platform, telcos and banks abroad can offer mobile phone-based remittances to Filipino migrants.

The remittance then goes through a clearing and settlement agency and ends up in the Philippines � specifically, in the recipient�s deposit account or Smart Money-powered card issued by a partner bank like LANDBANK. Both the sender and recipient will be notified via a text message that the remittance transaction has been completed.

SMART�s mobile commerce systems are available to international mobile operators and banks and to domestic banks, enabling them to provide a broad range of secure data and transactional services.

�Our mobile commerce platform has been designed to work closely with banks and financial institutions. To date, we have established mobile banking partnerships with seven Philippine commercial banks, Smart Money tie-ups with three of the country�s leading banks, and interconnection with the three ATM consortia in the country. SMART is also the only non-bank equity member of the ATM consortia in the Philippines,� Nazareno said.

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