The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) has received two awards from Asiamoney for its corporate social responsibility programs (CSR) that exemplified community service along with banking addressing financial inclusion.
Asiamoney, a leading finance publication in the region, recognized BPI as the “Best Bank for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)” and its fully owned subsidiary BPI Direct BanKo as “Best for Microfinance”.
BPI’s awards were voted on by a pool of editors, journalists, and researchers of Asiamoney, which has been covering developments in banking and capital markets in Asia over the last three decades.
“These recognitions inspire us to do more to uplift the lives of Filipinos and foster financial inclusion,” said BPI President and CEO Cezar P. Consing.
BPI bested other domestic and international banks in the CSR category for pioneering a number of initiatives, through BPI Foundation, focused on financial education, entrepreneurship development, sustainable environment, and employee engagement.
“To date, BPI has directly assisted more than 300,000 people, making it a worthy recipient of this year’s award,” went the AsiaMoney citation for BPI.
Over the past few years, BPI Foundation initiated transformative financial literacy and wellness programs—Manny and Me, BPI Senior High School Acceleration Program (SHAPE), FinEd-in-a-Box, etc.—to help students and underserved communities understand and apply basic saving and investing concepts.
BPI Foundation also launched capacity-building opportunities—through its programs BPI Sinag, Show Me Teach Me, and Tech-Voc—to empower micro, small, and medium enterprises as well as social entrepreneurs in building their businesses.
It also initiated programs aimed at preserving and restoring rainforests in Mindanao and empowering local government units and farmers in managing water and land resources.
For its part, BPI Direct BanKo was cited for its accomplishments in bringing microfinance loans to self-employed microentrepreneurs who lack access to credit within the formal banking system.
Through its ground-breaking NegosyoKo Loan, more than 70,000 microentrepreneurs to date were able to infuse more capital into their businesses. BanKo has been expanding its branch network in the country, allowing it to provide more effective and broader access to financial solutions and bringing the benefits of financial inclusion to more Filipinos.
Asiamoney noted how BPI’s expansion provide “good news for small businesses, which all too often have been forced to borrow at exorbitant rates from money lenders. It’s also good news for the long-term growth of the bank’s bottom line, since this business segment should be one of the most promising sectors of the economy.”
BPI had earlier received Quill Awards for its financial inclusion projects.
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