Wednesday, May 07, 2008 Bank pours $2M to improve RP infrastructure, online platform
IN an effort to address the needs of customers and get a bigger share of the market, a global savings bank spent more than $2 million to improve its infrastructure and information technology operations.
GE Money Bank chief operating officer John Hickey said during a press conference in Cebu City yesterday that the investment was made to enable the bank to make transactions easy and fast.
He said GE Money Bank also invested in reconfiguring the branches of Keppel Bank, which it acquired in 2005, to make them “more customer-focused.”
Mercedes Limson, GE Money Bank senior vice president for investments and branch sales, said the bank has not yet opened new branches aside from those of Keppel but it has developed its online platform, where customers can conduct banking transactions and even apply for loans.
“We have branches in strategic locations,” she said. She added that aside from its physical presence in areas close to their target markets, GE Money’s online platform makes the bank’s services accessible to more people.
Limson, citing a study on banking customer behavior, said people choose banks according to stability, competitive interest rates, low fees, customer service, accessibility and innovative products or services. She said GE Money continuously improves its services and products to answer these concerns.
Hickey said GE Money has also improved the queuing system in its banks so that customers do not have to spend more than 11 minutes on one transaction.
GE Money Bank was launched in Cebu in 2006, ahead of Manila, as bank officials stress Cebu’s importance to the bank’s growth.
“Cebu is very dear to us, very strategic to our growth,” Hickey said.
He cited Cebu’s economic growth, driven by the tourism and business process outsourcing (BPO) industries. He also said that GE Money foresees many potentials for growth in Cebu due to the province’s “highly educated” work force and its accessibility to other key areas in the country and in Asia.
To stress Cebu’s importance as a market, GE Money Bank picked the province to pilot its Flex Savings Plus and Flex Checking Plus accounts. The bank provides 1.5 percent interest, free checkbooks and gifts to those who will open these checking and savings accounts.
Limson said the bank hopes to increase its depositor base by 25 percent at the end of this year. She said the bank is also targeting young professionals, particularly those working in the BPO sector.
GE Money offers 24-hour banking services to those employed in the BPO sector, many of whom work on the night shift.
Limson said Cebu accounts for a fourth of GE Money Bank’s total depositor base in the Philippines of more than 30,000. Many of its depositors are small and medium enterprises, she added.
Hickey pointed out that GE Money achieved an average growth rate of 20 percent year-on-year in its depositor base since 2006. The bank also reported an increase of 20 percent to 30 percent in loans released from the time it was launched in Cebu up to present.
To reinforce GE Money’s decision to focus on Cebu, Clarito Fruelda, Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry vice president for external affairs and relations division, said the province has the fastest growing economy in the Philippines.
“Cebu is the place to be in business,” he said in the same press conference initiated by GE Money. “Cebu is a discriminating market. If you succeed in penetrating the Cebu market, you can succeed anywhere in the Philippines.”
GE Money Bank reported a net income $4.3 billion last year and $210 in assets worldwide. In Asia, GE serves 18 million customers in 11 markets. (Tawny Gwynne M. Estolloso, STC Mass Comm Intern/with LAP)
