RCBC digital banking unit rolls out loan marketplace

Yuchengco-led Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.’s (RCBC) digital banking platform DiskarTech is rolling out this April a loan marketplace targeting consumers and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs)—in line with its proposition as a financial inclusion “super app.”

DiskarTech—which has 2.8 million registered users, of which about a million had undergone validation as eligible depositors—has also introduced a Visayan dialect interface in its platform to better reach out to a critical segment of the population based in Visayas and Mindanao or working overseas.

For its maiden offering, the app will have a suite of 10 micro-loan products supported by partner financial technology companies and other financial institutions.

The suite includes a loan for doctors, overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), seafarers as well as loans to purchase a car, truck, motorcycle, public utility vehicle or taxi, multicab, tricycle or a house. Loans for secondhand vehicles like cars and trucks are also eligible.

Various lenders

Users are enabled by the app to choose the loan product from various lenders that best fits their needs. They can apply for loans as small as P15,000 to as big as P1 million within a 24- to 72-hour approval process.

RCBC executive vice president and chief innovation and inclusion officer Lito Villanueva said in a media briefing on Wednesday that for the first phase of the marketplace rollout, DiskarTech is targeting to have 20 lending companies be part of the loan marketplace. Among the first to come onboard is AsiaLink Finance Corp. Under the next phase of this rollout, RCBC itself will be among the lenders.

Users can choose among the available products under various consumer loan types based on their desired loan amount, terms and borrower profile. Application and submission of documents will be done through the app. For OFWs, seafarers and tricycle loans, Villanueva said approval can be made within the same day.

Interest rate will range between 1.3 percent and 2.5 percent per month depending on the loan product, reflecting the pricing structure of the lending partner. During the first phase of the loan marketplace rollout, DiskarTech aims to disburse about P500 million worth of loans funded by its lending partners. As the marketplace provider, DiskarTech and the partner-lender will have a revenue-sharing arrangement.

—DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA