RIZAL COMMERCIAL Banking Corp. (RCBC) on Monday signed a partnership with Hungry Workhorse Consultancy, Inc. for its rollout of application programming interfaces (APIs) for financial technology (fintech) companies via its online marketplace to boost their digital capabilities.
Under the partnership, RCBC will offer the APIs on the marketplace enabled by Hungry Workforce, which is the official Philippine partner of India-based APIwiz. The platform for RCBC’s Digital Marketplace 2.0 is built on APIwiz’ centralized API management system and APIOps framework.
Under the agreement, Hungry Workhorse will provide design thinking, implementation support, and digital talent development.
“This API-first approach also unlocks exponential impact in scaling inclusive digital finance, fostering co-creation and collaboration with key fintech players both locally and globally,” RCBC Executive Vice-President and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer Angelito M. Villanueva said in a speech at Monday’s event.
“By bridging capabilities across the ecosystem, RCBC is able to deliver more accessible, tailored, and affordable financial solutions to millions of Filipinos, whether they are in the country or overseas,” he said.
The partnership is in line with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) proposed guidelines on digital financial marketplaces released in February, which seeks to allow banks and electronic money issuers to offer their own financial and nonfinancial products and services as well as those from third-party providers via a single platform to better meet customers’ needs.
Mr. Villanueva added that the marketplace would give RCBC more revenue streams and improve cost savings.
He said the first 30 priority APIs will be made available on the marketplace within 90 days, which will include products related to digital remittance, banking as a service or embedded finance, savings, and insurance.
The marketplace is already seeing a lot of demand from local fintechs, including possible applicants for digital banking licenses, as well as incumbent banks, Mr. Villanueva told reporters on the sidelines of the event.
“In fact, that’s why we’re rushing this because there are quite a number of them who want to partner with us, and they want to execute immediately. So, as soon as we have all these APIs ready, we can implement all those initiatives,” he said.
RCBC’s attributable net income rose by 10.26% year on year to P2.43 billion in the first quarter,
Its shares went down by 15 centavos or 0.60% to close at P25 apiece on Monday. — Aaron Michael C. Sy