THE Palawan Group of Companies is aiming to reach 1 million Filipinos within the first year of the launch of PalaSave, a new savings product developed in partnership with Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.’s (RCBC) DiskarTech.
“We want to reach the underserved ... these are the drivers, the fishermen, farmers, market vendors,” Palawan Group President and CEO Karlo Castro told a media briefing on Tuesday.
Since the launch of the PalaSave feature earlier this year, Castro said they had already onboarded around 60,000 depositors and were targeting 1 million users within the first 12 months.
“We still have a long way to go, but it’s the target for the first 12 months,” he said.
PalaSave is a savings feature embedded within the PalawanPay app that offers up to 4.0 percent interest per year.
There is no minimum deposit requirement, and the product is designed to provide users with a secure, high-yield savings option directly accessible through their e-wallet.
“By embedding the RCBC DiskarTech Savings Hub directly into the PalawanPay app, we are opening doors for all 23 million PalawanPay users,” RCBC President and CEO Reginaldo Cariaso said.
“We are enabling millions of Filipinos, many who have traditionally been underbanked, to open a formal savings account without having to download a new app or visit a physical bank branch,” he added.
Castro said deposits generated through the feature had already reached about P50 million since its launch, with the Palawan Group aiming to grow this to roughly P1 billion by the end of the year.
RCBC Executive Vice President Lito Villanueva said the partnership sought to address gaps in financial access affecting various segments of the population.
“Not by lack of income, but by lack of access. We found them in plain sight — gig workers earning daily but undocumented, freelancers paid globally but excluded locally, pensioners and retirees with stable income yet unable to access simple financial tools,” he said.
“They are financially capable but systematically invisible. And that is when we realized that the same model we built for the underserved could unlock opportunity for the overlooked. In every crisis, there are gaps. And in every gap, there is an opportunity to serve."
RCBC shares on Tuesday closed unchanged at P24.00 each.
