UPLIFTING LIVES THROUGH INCLUSIVE DIGITAL FINANCE
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UPLIFTING LIVES THROUGH INCLUSIVE DIGITAL FINANCE
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R I Z A L C O M M E R C I A L B A N K I N G C O R P O R AT I O N
Lito Villanueva discusses the customer-centric and datadriven digital transformation at the heart of Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation
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teering the wave of change has been a continuous theme in Lito Villanueva’s career. ‘Mr Fintech’, as he is called in the
Philippines, has been appointed as the Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer at Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation 04
(RCBC). This comes on top of being the Chief Digital Transformation Advisor for the Yuchengco Group of Companies (YGC). Villanueva embraced this new challenge after almost 10 combined years in the PLDT Group. Despite the change in company, Villanueva’s vision remains the same: continuous digital disruption. He elaborates: “If we accelerate our execution of humancentric financial services with a delightful customer experience, the possibilities are truly endless.” Widely recognised as one of the leading fintech executives in Asia, Villanueva joined RCBC in May 2019, bringing 25 years’ experience in telecommunications, payments, financial technology, global banking, digital transformation, regulatory engagement and international development advisory. “This experience contributes towards how I innovate and
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1960
Year founded
$1.4bn Revenue in US dollars
6,450 Number of employees
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R I Z A L C O M M E R C I A L B A N K I N G C O R P O R AT I O N
implement,” he explains. “Similarly, my
“Any product has to evoke emotions, it has to make a connection, and an impact to their lives” — Lito Villanueva, Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation 06
stints with global leaders such as Visa, the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group, Economist Intelligence Unit and more, spanning over 35 countries, have given me a strong understanding of different markets, disciplines, and cultures that prepared me well for the challenges that I had to face.” On the local front, Villanueva succeeded in making waves in the industry as Voyager Innovations’ FINTQnologies Managing Director under the PLDT Group, where he created trailblazing engagements. Particularly noteworthy was the implementation of Lendr, the Philippines’ largest digital lending platform with loans disbursed in excess of US$1bnn in less than five years. He also secured licenses for PayMaya as an electronic money issuer. This includes issuing and acquiring license from Visa. While Villanueva has many successes in his career to date, there remains one overarching driver behind how he has approached each of his roles: people. “I’ve been honoured with various notable monikers in and by the industry” he
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘LITO V’S FINTECH SUMMIT KICKOFF’ 07 shares, “such as the Philippines’ lead-
who well understands the potential
ing inclusive digital finance accelerator,
threats that organisations such as
digital transformation champion, prime
RCBC face from digital disruption and
thought leader, and entrepreneurial
the importance of embracing such a
game changer, to name a few. But my
change. When approaching RCBC’s
singular purpose and passion in cham-
own digital transformation, Villanueva
pioning all these initiatives, is to help
first focused on “how to address
uplift the lives of Filipinos. Technology
the three key barriers in carrying out
is just a means to an end with the
digitalisation: cultural, procedural, and
customer at the core.”
structural. With the support of the entire
According to Villanueva, this trans-
Group,” he adds, “we are enhancing our
formation isn’t purely restricted to
competitiveness through convergence
RCBC, but rather, is driven by YGC.
for data-driven product offering across
Key to this journey, he says, is Group
the Group and collaborate through open
Chairperson, Helen Yuchengco Dee
banking to drive exponential growth.” w w w.rc b c. com
R I Z A L C O M M E R C I A L B A N K I N G C O R P O R AT I O N
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Lito Villanueva with (L-R) Finance Undersecretary Gil Bletran, Monetary Board Member Felipe Medalla, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor and Monetary Board Chairman Benjamin Diokno, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez and Monetary Board Member Antonio Abacan, Jr. at the book launching of Unchartered Beyond: The Taxonomy of FinTech in the Philippines.
Form a pure technology perspective,
customer experience. Understanding
Villanueva believes that the introduction
the process is critical to stay ahead
of those new digital solutions mentioned
of the development curve, and all of our
previously will greatly improve the expe-
platforms and enabling infrastructure
rience that RCBC is able to provide its
must be agile.” The three ‘Vs’ relate
customers. His first priority, he explains,
to velocity, value, and volume. “Agility
is the harmonising and optimising of the
and speed in execution will give you
company’s existing banking products.
the velocity; value is vital in delivering
“I have my digital transformation equa-
customer adoption and loyalty; while
tion: 4Ps+3Vs = PDC,” he explains.
volume provides growth and scale,”
“The four ‘Ps’ relate to people, process,
says Villanueva. “The result of being
platform, and product - it’s all about
successful in these areas is PDC:
thriving in a human-centric digital
profit maximisation, data generation,
culture and delivering an awesome
and cost reduction.”
B RI EF P RO FI LE
Lito Villanueva Lito Villanueva is the Philippines’ leading and award-winning thought leader on digital transformation and inclusive digital finance. He has over 20 years of experience in banking, telecommunications, payments, development finance, and financial technology. He merited over 50 global and regional awards including being cited as one of the Top 100 FinTech Leaders in Asia, the first and only Filipino, thus far, for scaling digital innovations and financial inclusion. He was also named “Mr. FinTech of the Philippines” by BizNewsAsia magazine. He is presently the Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer for RCBC and concurrently as Chief Digital Transformation Advisor for the Yuchengco Group of Companies. He had stint with Economist Intelligence Unit, Visa, Smart Communications, IFC of the World Bank Group, Voyager Innovations covering PayMaya (formerly Smart Money) and FINTQnologies as its managing director. He created and scaled Lendr, the Philippines’ largest digital loans marketplace disbursing in excess of US$1 billion in less than five years. He is also the founding chairman of FinTech Alliance.ph and president of the BSP Governor Nestor A. Espenilla Jr. Institute for Growth towards National Inclusion, Transformation, and Empowerment (IGNITE). He released various publications including the award-winning three-volume Inclusive Digital Finance Report and the Uncharted Beyond: The Taxonomy of FinTech in the Philippines.
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connection and an impact to their lives.”
“ Banking, not banks, today is all about always-on engagement” — Lito Villanueva, Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation
One example he cites is the shift in RCBCs mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) business and its rebrand to ATM Go!, which saw Villanueva pull out more than 1,000 mPOS devices that were idle and redeploy them to merchants that had high velocity transactions. This move led to year-on-year growth of 564% and 521% in transaction volume and transaction value respectively, and has seen additional 100 rural banks, microfinance, cooperatives and other merchants engage with the initiative. This type of work has even greater importance within the context of the
Villanueva’s passion for excelling
significant unbanked society in the
in the field of customer engagement
Philippines. “Creating an executive
and experience, and working to help
position like mine is a manifestation of
Filipinos achieve better financial
YGC and RCBC’s wider commitment
lives, is evident. He firmly believes
and drive to contribute in the govern-
that RCBC’s digitalisation will bring
ment’s push to scale inclusive growth
more success in this area. “Acquiring
through technology,” says Villanueva,
customers is relatively straightforward,
adding that new technology will be
keeping them to use your product is
key to serving these customers. “You
another story,” he reflects. “Before
cannot scale anything using legacy or
deploying any new technology, it’s
traditional banking, or through the cur-
critical to understand exactly what the
rent branch network system. Banking,
customer needs - any product has
not banks, today is all about always-on
to evoke emotions, it has to make a
engagement. In achieving this, building w w w.rc b c. com
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R I Z A L C O M M E R C I A L B A N K I N G C O R P O R AT I O N
out an ecosystem with our strategic partners will make the work even more rewarding and exciting. It’s simply O2O, or offline to online and vice versa. In a developing country like the Philippines, you must strike a balance between bricks and clicks.” As we usher in the new decade, 2020 is poised to be a milestone year in creating a robust and sustainable digital economy. It is certain that the Philippines is geared up to make the leap from a lower-middle income 12
nation to an upper-middle income country in the near term. Rooted in an increasing urbanisation and a growing young population, the Philippines’ economy is in a strong standing in the ASEAN region. The fact remains, however, that there is still a digital and financial divide in the region that needs to be bridged. “Filipinos are known to weather socioeconomic trials creatively,” says Villanueva. “‘Diskarte’ is a Filipino slang for resilience, creativity, resourcefulness, and - in some instances - innovation, which of course redounds to surviving against all odds. Simply put, it is GRIT, the Filipino way.”
“ My singular purpose and passion in championing all these initiatives, is to help uplift the lives of Filipinos” — Lito Villanueva, Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation
In scaling digitalisation with growing consumer adoption, RCBC is launching the Philippines’ first inclusion super app, known as DiskarTech – a fusion of grit and enabling technologies. “With DiskarTech, we will be empowering Filipinos by fuelling their financial aspirations,” Villanueva explains. “It aims to provide equal opportunities in the countryside, catering to the financial access deficient segment to w w w.rc b c. com
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be gainfully engaged in the country’s economic activities. Financial
“ With all things said, technology is not merely about convenient access. It has to be relevant to make it adaptable, scalable, and sustainable” — Lito Villanueva, Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation
inclusion is, in fact, a journey in itself,” he stresses. DiskarTech is a three-in-one inclusion super app that will unlock the huge potential of every Filipino. In the process, ‘I-preneurs’ will emerge as a growth hack and self-help enabler, allowing enterprising Filipinos to earn from offering DiskarTech sachet banking services. They will now be able to facilitate DiskarTech transactions for
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Lito Villanueva with Prof. Muhammad Yunus
those who have no mobile phones, or
digital-savvy RCBC President and CEO
those who do not have any data ser-
Eugene Acevedo mean that “2020 will
vice. This is an inclusive intervention
be an exciting year for Filipino consum-
that cuts across segments.
ers as we drive towards accelerating
Villanueva points out that: “With all
inclusive digital finance.”
things said, technology is not merely about convenient access. It has to be relevant to make it adaptable, scalable, and sustainable.” The business, he states, is always evolving. However, he is confident that the strong leadership and clear strategic direction under the dynamic and w w w.rc b c. com
Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation Yuchengco Tower RCBC Plaza 6819 Ayala Avenue, Makati City Philippines T +632 8894 9000 www.rcbc.com