USAID has decided to support and expand the Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (MABS) Program for the period May 2008 until March 2013.

Over the past 10 years, the MABS Program has provided technical assistance and training to rural banks to profitably provide financial services to the microenterprise sector. Since 1998, MABS participating banks have served more than 470,000 microenterprise borrowers providing them with more than 1.5 million loans totaling more than PhP 17 billion and helped to expand the number of small deposit accounts. Today, the MABS participating rural banks manage more than 1.3 million micro deposit accounts totaling more than PhP 1.7 billion. During this new phase of the MABS Program, the MABS team and their accredited MABS Service Providers will continue to provide technical assistance and training utilizing the MABS Approach to assist more banks expand access to microfinance services through more branches across the countryside. The MABS Approach to microfinance is a comprehensive system based on microfinance best practices.

From New Horizon Q1 2008

The Philippine Central Bank fosters an environment that helps bring mobile banking services to rural shopkeepers, street vendors and household-based entrepreneurs.

In the Philippines micro, small and medium-sized enterprises make up 99.6 percent of total businesses and employ 70 percent of the workforce. Around 4.1 million families belonging to the lowest-income strata are engaged in microenterprise activities.

Tuesday, November 13 2007 (www.philstar.com)

The chairman of the world’s leading electronic commercial and online auction site was in the Philippines recently to learn more about the rural banking industry’s mobile phone banking initiative. Pierre Omidyar, chairman and founder of eBAY met in Cebu recently with the proponents of the Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (MABS) Program, as well as several rural bankers, and G-Xchange Inc., to see how it could be involved with the mobile phone banking initiative of rural bankers.

The MABS and rural bankers focused on how mobile phone banking expands financial products and services to more microfinance clients here in the Philippines as well as the potential in other parts of the world. MABS Program chief of party John Owens shared updates on its mobile phone banking roll out, as well as the results, experiences, and challenges encountered.

Tuesday, November 13 2007 (www.philstar.com)

Several awardees of the 2007 Citigroup Microentrepreneur of the Year (MOTY) Awards are microentrepreneurs tapping the financial services of Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (MABS) program participating rural banks. The MABS program, a United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded project jointly implemented by the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP) and the Office of the President through the Mindanao Economic Development Council, assists rural banks to develop their capability to profitably provide banking services to microentrepreneurs. To date, it has worked with 90 rural banks, which have disbursed more than P15 billion in microfinance loans to over 435,000 microentrepreneurs.

The 2007 Citigroup Microentrepreneur of the Year (MOTY) Awards will issue the National Awards for two categories, the Maunlad and Masikap awards. First Isabela Cooperative Bank (FICO) Bank microloan client Henry Bayaua will receive the Maunlad National Award. The Maunlad category recognizes microentrepreneurs who have business assets of up to P1 million and are generating employment for people apart from household or family members.

Bayaua is FICO Bank’s second national MOTY Awardee since 2002. FICO Bank microloan client Josephine Alima was named the first MOTY Maunlad National Awardee during the award program’s initial run in 2002.

The Rural Bank of Santo Tomas (RBST) microloan client Milagros Dorado will be recognized as the Masikap National Awardee. The Masikap category covers microenterprises with asset market values of up to P300,000 and are reliable sources of income for the owners’ families.

Dorado raises ducks for egg production and sells the eggs to balut manufacturers. With loans from RBST, she was able to buy more ducks and increase her production. The business has helped finance her children’s education.

MABS Deputy Chief of Party Meliza H. Agabin attended the 3rd African Microfinance Conference held in Kampala, Uganda on August 20-23, as a conference speaker on the MABS-designed mobile phone banking services in the Philippines. More than 400 participants from microfinance institutions all over Africa, donor agencies, and invited speakers from the international organizations attended the conference. A range of topics were covered in the conference including: policy and regulatory framework in different African states, value chain analysis for agriculture, new approaches and methodologies for reaching those currently unbanked, market segmentation, and application of technologies for improving access to financial services.

The MABS Program and the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP), with the support of Globe Telecom mobile commerce subsidiary GXchange (GXI), launched a new mobile phone banking website www.mobilephonebanking.rbap.org - an online resource of mobile phone banking services and a directory of accredited rural bank outlets and merchants accepting mobile cash payments.

The MABS Program marked its 10th anniversary with a ceremony recognizing its partners and clients. Secretary Cerge Remonde, Director-General of the Presidential Management Staff, and United States Ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney helped mark a decade of successful partnership between the USAID, RBAP, and MABS participating banks. In her message, Ambassador Kenney highlighted the successes of rural banks and the microentrepreneurs that they serve. “RBAP-MABS has demonstrated that microentrepreneurs are bankable and credit worthy, and that rural banks can make a good return from microfinance services”.

The Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (MABS) Program held its 5th National Roundtable (NRT) Conference at the Manila Hotel on June 12-13. Over one hundred-fifty participants - comprising 111 rural bankers from 49 MABS participating banks (PBs); representatives from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Mindanao Economic Development Council (MEDCo), Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP), Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX), Microfinance Council of the Philippines, GXchange (GXI), Bank of the Philippine Islands; and MABS and Rural Banker 2000 service providers attended the conference.