CARD targets 5.2M clients, expands to south Cebu

A client transacts at the CARD SME Bank in Barangay Sta. Rosa, Lapu-Lapu City.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

MICROFINANCING organization, CARD Mutually Reinforcing Institutions (CARD MRI), seeks to strengthen its presence in Cebu in its bid to reach out to more clients and eventually wipe out poverty in the Philippines.

Raffy Antes, CARD MRI corporate communications assistant, said they plan to open another branch for Rizal Bank, Inc. (RBI) in Argao this September 18 to completely cover clients from Minglanilla to Santander.

“To reach our targets, our main strategy is continuous expansion and innovation of processes,” he told reporters on Monday.

In its 5-8-40 Strategy, CARD MRI targets to reach eight million clients and insure 40 million clients nationwide in five years (beginning 2015 until 2020).

The ultimate goal, meanwhile, is “zero poverty.” The poverty rate in the Philippines currently stands at 21.6 percent.

CARD MRI targets 5.2 million clients for 2017. As of August this year, the microfinancing institution’s client count stands at 4.5 million, both with loans and/or savers only.

Cebu’s contribution to the target number of clients for 2017 is at 5.5 percent.

Established on Dec. 10, 1986 in San Pablo City, Laguna, CARD has grown to 21 mutually reinforcing institutions, serving more than 4.5 million clients and insuring 13.8 million individuals nationwide.

Among these MRIs is RBI, which caters to the formal banking needs of CARD clients.

In Cebu, their first branch was opened in Carcar City in January of this year and serves 24,000 clients.

The organization has also reduced the waiting time for approval of loans to discourage its clients from going to loan sharks, which offer usurious interest rates.

Members who wish to apply for loans have to undergo a three-week seminar and may only get the loan within the fourth week.

Antes said this has been changed to 24 hours to one week, for as long as the loan applicants are recognized by the financing center.

Aside from the RBI, CARD MRI’s presence in Cebu is also felt through CARD, Inc., which caters to clients with loan requirements of P1,000 to P5,000, usually among the “hard to reach poor.”

CARD, Inc. has 75 unit offices covering the whole Cebu province, catering to 86,000 clients.

Introduced to Cebu in 2005, its credit programs provide loans to small businesses which their members undertake, giving them the opportunity to save and build up their own capital, thereby enhancing their credit-worthiness.