Press Release
Smart and China Bank team up for mobile commerce
SMART-CHINA BANK INK M-COM PARTNERSHIP. Alex D. Ibasco, Smart New Business Streams Head and Ramon Recto Zamora, China Bank SVP and Centralized Operations Group Head seal the Smart-China Bank partnership via a recent MOU signing ceremony. Lito M. Villanueva, Smart Head for Solutions Consulting and Program Management and China Bank FVP and Corporate Planning Division Head, Alexander C. Escucha stand as witness.
[September 4, 2007 / Manila, Philippines] - Leading wireless services provider Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) and the country’s first privately-owned commercial bank, China Banking Corporation (or China Bank), have forged a partnership to develop and market new financial products and services that will address the needs of migrant workers and the domestic market.
Under the memorandum of understanding, China Bank will utilize Smart’s mobile commerce platform, the Smart Services Hub, in developing new remittance and financial services and products. The Smart Services Hub is Smart’s global financial and telecommunications services model based on its award-winning Smart Money electronic financial services platform.
"This partnership with China Bank underscores our commitment to work with bank partners in providing the public with innovative mobile banking and mobile commerce services. We are optimistic that our partnership will enable China Bank to reach out to the unbanked and underbanked in the Philippines, and around the world." said Danilo J. Mojica, Head of the Smart Wireless Consumer Division.
“The market demand for technology-based bank products and services has unceasingly grown over the years. China Bank is thus looking at the alliance with Smart to complement its initiatives and resources in developing new lines particularly in the areas of mobile banking and mobile phone remittance,” explained Ramon Recto Zamora, the bank’s Senior Vice President and Head of Centralized Operations Group.
The partnership is in line with Smart’s efforts in promoting m-commerce and mobile phone-based remittances. Early this year, 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 China Bank. 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.
“The linkages we have established with eight Philippine commercial banks, including China Bank, and interconnection with the three ATM consortia in the country provide assurances that the necessary system safeguards are in place, and that the Anti-money Laundering Act (AMLA) standards and procedures are complied with,” said Alex D. Ibasco, SMART New Business Streams Head.
"Our partnership with China Bank is in line with our global mobile commerce initiatives. Our mobile commerce platform has been designed to work closely with banks and financial institutions. By combining Smart's m-commerce platform hub with China Bank's banking infrastructure, we will be able to offer innovative services to more Filipinos here and abroad,” added Lito M. Villanueva, Smart Head for Solutions Consulting and Program Management.
“The Smart Services Hub may serve as a platform for China Bank to launch new money transfer services, which will add to the bank’s menu of remittance products made available to its partner-institutions and Filipino overseas workers and expatriates. These services are meant to provide OFWs, particularly, with cheaper and faster means to send their money home. Going forward, the bank may consider other applications of the Smart Services Hub for other financial products,” said Jess Cifra, China Bank Assistant Vice President and Head of Remittance Business Division.
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.
Smart Communications, Inc. is the Philippines' leading wireless services provider with over 27 million subscribers on its GSM network as of June 2007. Of its total subscriber base, 19.1 million subscribers are served under the brands Smart Buddy, Smart Gold and Smart Infinity. Another 8 million subscribers are served through its subsidiary, Pilipino Telephone Corp., under the brand Talk 'N Text. 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 a 3G service, Smart 3G. SMART’s subsidiary, Smart Broadband, Inc. offers the revolutionary high-speed wireless broadband Internet service, Smart Bro. Smart is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Philippines' leading telecommunications carrier, the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company.
The country’s first privately-owned universal bank, China Bank, marked its 87th year last August 16, 2007. Strong, resilient, and driven by an impassioned commitment to serve its clients, the Bank has weathered the devastation of war, the ripple effects of the currency crisis and changes in the economic and political climate, over the course of its almost nine decades of successful operations.
China Bank looks at growth and expansion not only to strengthen its operations, but also to touch base with more people, bringing China Bank’s brand of personalized customer service to a wider area. Aside from expanding China Bank’s reach from the inside – signing up new partners to grow the remittance business, opening new branches in the countryside, and offering new products for a specific market niche – China Bank looked for another way to accelerate the growth. In June, the Bank signed a memorandum of agreement with Manila Bank to acquire 87.51% of Manila Bank’s subscribed shares. @
