Imagine having a friendly neighborhood bank in every barangay, especially in the provinces.
This is the vision of BDO’s “Cash Agad,” a banking solution by BDO Unibank to provide Filipinos with some of the most important banking services such as Balance Inquiry and Withdrawal in far-flung areas without the need to put up an actual bank branch or an ATM unit.
Cash Agad is a network composed of partner agents, particularly small businesses located in Luzon, Visayas, or Mindanao that run the Cash Agad service in their respective communities and in remote areas.
Partner-agents for Cash Agad can be any business establishment like a sari-sari store, salon, drugstore or water refilling station, as long as it is a registered business. The objective is to provide access to financial services without the need to travel very far.
According to Jim Nasol, BDO Senior Vice President and Head of Agency Banking, the creation of Cash Agad outlets has been part of BDO’s plans to spur the growth and development of the countryside.
“There are many Filipinos who are hardworking, intelligent, industrious and continue to dream of making a better life for their families. Many of them don’t have access to cash and capital, and they find it hard to make ends meet because by getting their cash alone from a faraway bank, they will spend a lot of time and money,” Nasol said during a virtual press conference held this morning.
He added that through Cash Agad partner-agents, BDO helps promote financial inclusion and expand the reach of financial services to many unbanked or underbanked Filipinos. “We believe that having access to financial services does a lot to give a better life to many Filipinos in remote areas.”
Also, Nasol said becoming a Cash Agad partner agent gives Filipinos, especially the small business owners an opportunity to earn extra income through the share of the service fees they will get. “Hopefully, we can help them bounce back and recover from COVID-19’s impact on their livelihood or business and ultimately, spur economic recovery and growth as we continue to deal with the effects of the pandemic.”
To become a Cash Agad partner-agent, the business owner only needs to have a bank account at any BDO or BDO network bank. Just go to www.bdo.com.ph/cash-agad-application to register and then submit necessary documents like a business permit.
Once the application is approved, the business owner will be given a POS terminal that can accept transactions using any Philippine-issued ATM card, whether a debit or prepaid card.
At present, transactions accepted through Cash Agad are limited to Balance Inquiry, accepting of Remittances from abroad, and withdrawals, with no service fee for Balance Inquiry, and affordable service fee of Php15-30 within the city and Php30-50 outside the city for withdrawals. Maximum amount for withdrawals is P10,000 per transaction, or depending on the transacting bank’s or the partner-agent’s daily limit.
And very soon, Nasol announced other services will be introduced to Cash Agad like Deposit, which he said they were unable to launch because of COVID-19, plus the fact that the service that most people in smaller communities wanted was more on withdrawals.
He said they are eyeing to launch the Deposit service, including bills payment, within the first quarter of next year.
“What’s really important for us right now is to educate people in smaller communities about financial literacy, to bring the banks closer to them and forget about hiding their money in their homes.”
At present, Cash Agad has more than 8,000 partner-agents nationwide, with CALABARZON, Eastern Visayas and Central Luzon among the Top 3 regions.