THE financial technology (fintech) sector has been at the forefront of introducing lodes of welcome innovations even in the face of a pandemic to further showcase the vital role fintech plays for the growth of the economy and for financial inclusivity.
Pushing the innovation path further, Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, together with Fintech Alliance PH, where Alibaba Cloud is one of the founding members, teamed up to launch the Fintech Industry Sandbox Program.
Alibaba Cloud has always been a strong advocate of fintech development, that’s why it partnered with Fintech Alliance PH, the premier trade association of digital players in the country’s digital finance sector, to launch this first-of-its-kind program designed to increase access to inclusive digital finance.
This program is also conceptualized in support of the digitalization initiatives of the country’s regulators, particularly the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), to enable local businesses in the finance sector to explore the use of advanced cloud computing products and fintech services from Alibaba Cloud in a risk-free testing environment.
Under the program, each eligible Philippine business will receive up to US$10,000 in cloud coupons, which can be used to adopt Alibaba Cloud’s proven solutions, as well as access to complementary cloud training, technical and industry expertise and regulatory compliance guidance.
“We created this program with Alibaba Cloud to support emerging digital technologies, which help address current challenges in the financial industry. With more financial companies joining this program, we are glad to see the acceleration of access to inclusive digital finance in the country,” explains Lito Villanueva, founding Chairman of the FinTech Alliance.ph and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer and Executive Vice President of RCBC (Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation).
“Alibaba Cloud and the FinTech Alliance are working hard to create a business-friendly environment for local fintech companies to deploy digital finance solutions tailored to their needs, and this program is an important step towards this goal. We are excited to collaborate with companies in the Philippine fintech sector and further contribute to their development,” Allen Guo, Country Manager for the Philippines, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, told FrontpagePH.com.
Beginning this month, the program will be accepting applications from BSP-supervised financial institutions who are registered with the SEC and meet eligibility criteria. Interested organizations can send their applications to [email protected].
As the leading public cloud service provider in Asia Pacific, Alibaba Cloud is one of the founding members of the FinTech Alliance.ph, offering its expertise in cloud technology and providing solutions around elastic compute, database, security, storage and network services. It is also developing machine learning and data analytics capabilities to address challenges and unlock opportunities for companies across the fintech space.
For example, Alibaba Cloud provides a mix of fintech solutions to mobile wallet enterprise GCash to handle large volumes of digital transactions with minimal interruption and high-cost efficiency. The company also works with UBX, the fintech venture studio and fund spinoff of UnionBank of the Philippines, to provide eKYC (Electronic Know-Your-Customer) solutions. These products are designed to help local financial institutions boost their efficiency and security through digitalizing the identity verification process.
Motivated by the demand for digital solutions and the need for greater financial inclusion, the Philippine fintech sector has sustained rapid growth in recent years. The BSP forecasts that the share of digital transactions value will reach at least 50 percent by 2023.