RIZAL Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) has become the fastest growing and most innovative bank in the Philippines, climbing from eighth position in 2018 to fifth in 2022.
Since the pandemic, RCBC has been transforming its banking services into digital, promoting financial inclusion in disadvantaged communities.
It launched several digital-first initiatives, such as Pulz, Diskartech, and ATM Go. RCBC’s Innovations with Empathy is led by Lito Villanueva, crafting a contextual banking strategy based on data analytics and artificial intelligence.
According to the man heading the team responsible for RCBC’s impressive digital transformation, the bank’s recipe for success lies in the mindset. Villanueva believes that Filipinos are naturally creative individuals, and the bank’s focus was on harnessing and developing that cultural mindset. Instead of just focusing on technology, they started by looking within and asking what the banking world was missing. They realized that many Filipinos remained unbanked and underserved, despite the skills of the workforce. It was this recognition that led them to start and continue their digital transformation journey. Now, they are witnessing the results of their hard work with remarkable speed and scale.
RCBC’s remarkable growth and success over the years have caught the attention of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, one of Japan’s largest megabanks. In 2021, SMBC invested P4.48 billion in RCBC, acquiring a 4.99 percent stake in the company. Just a year later, in November 2022, RCBC’s Board approved SMBC’s increased shareholding to 20.00 percent, which injected P27.13 billion (about $487.14 million) of fresh CET1 capital into the bank.
