Press Release
SMART e-Loading now possible via BDO e-channels
[Sept. 25, 2009/ Manila] - Leading wireless services provider, Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART) has teamed up with Banco de Oro Unibank (BDO), the country’s largest local bank in terms of assets, loans and deposits, to launch an enhancement of their electronic banking partnership--the ability to purchase electronic load for Smart Buddy and Talk ‘N Text accounts anytime, anywhere, via BDO ATMs, phone banking, and internet banking.
This complements the earlier engagements with BDO, foremost of which is mobile banking, which allows SMART subscribers to perform BDO account inquiries, fund transfers, airtime purchases and Smart Money reloading, via a few clicks on the SIM-based mobile commerce menu of SMART. BDO is also SMART’s first issuer bank for Smart Money--the world’s first reloadable payment card linked to a mobile phone with a SMART SIM.
“As the country’s leading telco, our job is to provide the communications infrastructure that will enable the banking industry to offer new, innovative services to their customers,” said Jojo M. Malolos, SMART Financial Services Group Head. “The enhancements of our partnership with BDO, will enable us to provide an expanded and more robust mobile banking experience to the increasingly mobile Filipino,” Malolos added.
“BDO is pleased to collaborate with SMART to provide more and better opportunities to enhance our services to our customers. BDO’s extensive network combined with SMART’s advanced mobile commerce technology will help us provide our customers with faster, more convenient and more secure ways of managing their banking requirements,” said BDO SVP Ismael G. Estela, Jr., Group Head for Transaction Banking.
SMART has been actively promoting mobile commerce services in the Philippines since 2000. These services include the award-winning Smart Money, the world’s first electronic wallet card linked to a mobile phone. It won the 2001 3GSM Award for “Most Innovative GSM Wireless Service for Customers. SMART has likewise developed a global financial and telecommunications services hub model called the Smart Financial Services Hub (“SFSH”), based on the features and capabilities of its Smart Money electronic financial services platform.
A listed entity at the Philippine Stock Exchange, BDO is the largest local bank in terms of assets, loans and deposits and ranked third in terms of capital, as of the end of the first quarter 2009. Notwithstanding the prevailing tough economic environment, the Bank keeps an optimistic outlook for the rest of the year, targeting a full-year profit of P5.5 billion.
About Smart Communications, Inc.
Smart Communications, Inc. is the Philippines' leading wireless services provider with 38.5 million subscribers on its GSM network as of end-June 2009. SMART has built a reputation for innovation, having introduced world-first wireless data services, including mobile commerce services such as Smart Money, Smart Load and Smart Padala. SMART also offers 3G and HSPA services. Its Smart Link service provides communications to the global maritime industry. Smart Broadband, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary, offers a wireless broadband service, Smart BRO. SMART is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Philippines' leading telecommunications carrier, the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company.
For more information, visit http://www.smart.com.ph/.
About Banco De Oro Unibank
The product of a merger heralded as unprecedented in size and scale in the Philippine banking industry, Banco De Oro Unibank (BDO) to¬day represents a firm consolidation of distinct strengths and advan¬tages built over the years by the entities behind its history. More im¬portantly, BDO is an institution that does more than honor its past; it continues to improve on its present, and moves with innovation and dynamism toward an even stronger future.
BDO’s reputation as a full-service universal bank remains as formidable as ever. It has the caliber to provide industry-leading corporate, retail, investment banking and insurance services. It maintains its strategic focus on its principal markets, notably the corporate market, the middle-market banking segment – consisting of mid-sized corporations and small and medium-sized enterprises – and the retail/consumer market. Moreover, it has complemented this base with expertise in asset management, leasing and finance, remittances, bancassurance, credit cards, and corporate cash man¬agement. Its institutional strengths and value-added products and services hold the key to its successful business relationships with customers. On the front line, branch banking has continuously been setting high standards as a sales and service-oriented, customer-fo¬cused force. Through selective acquisitions and organic growth, BDO is positioning for increased strength and continuing expansion into new markets.
For more information, visit http://www.bdo.com.ph/.
