Cebuana Lhuillier Powers Up Their Micro Savings Account for the Modern Day “Iponaryos”

As a champion for financial inclusion, Cebuana Lhuillier recently launched additional features to their existing Micro Savings Account, a product of Cebuana Lhuillier Rural Bank, to help more Filipinos become financially mobile, especially during the onset of the new normal. When the Micro Savings was introduced last year, in 2019, to be exact, it provided unbanked and underbanked Filipinos with easy access to basic savings, regardless of who and where they are. It further empowered the vast majority to jumpstart their savings and directly steer their lives towards a better future. But when the pandemic hit, the progress of the program, along with everything else, was literally brought to a standstill. Cebuana Lhuillier Rural Bank (CLRB) saw this as an opportunity to make sure that account holders or “Iponaryos” as they’re called, continue to still have full access to their hard-earned money, at their convenience. CLRB president Dennis Valdes said that, “The many challenges and limitations in access, presented by the pandemic to our clients and countless Filipinos, made us look even harder for more opportunities in bringing Cebuana Lhuillier Micro Savings to the next level; pushing our myriad of services farther ahead to immediately answer the needs of our… Read More

Cebuana Lhuillier Rural Bank eyes 8 million accounts next year

MANILA, Philippines — The banking arm of Cebuana Lhuillier expects a 60 percent jump in accounts by the end of next year as it boosts financial inclusion efforts amid the pandemic. Jean Henri Lhuillier, president and chief executive officer of Cebuana Lhuillier, told The STAR Cebuana Lhuillier Rural Bank (CLRB) sees its account base hitting eight million by the end of next year. “We will continue our extensive Iponaryo campaigns using all available channels, including 2,500 Cebuana Lhuillier branches nationwide,” Lhuillier said. CLRB president Dennis Valdes said account holders or “Iponaryos” continued to have full access to their hard-earned money at their convenience amid the quarantine measures to prevent the spread of the virus. “The many challenges and limitations in access presented by the pandemic to our clients and countless Filipinos, made us look even harder for more opportunities in bringing Cebuana Lhuillier Micro Savings to the next level; pushing our myriad of services farther ahead to immediately answer the needs of our clients,” Valdes said. The savings product was introduced in 2019 to provide unbanked and underbanked Filipinos with easy access to basic savings, regardless of who and where they are. Valdes said there are now over one million… Read More

Two million micro savings accounts bring Filipinos closer to financial inclusion

Based on the 2017 Financial Inclusion Survey of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), only 15.8 million Filipino adults or 22.6 percent of the total adult population have formal bank accounts, while 52.8 million or 77.4 percent remain unbanked. To help the BSP encourage the unbanked population to invest in savings, Cebuana Lhuillier launched its #Kaya Na: Unbanked Filipinos No More campaign, and in just seven months, generated over two million micro savings accounts. Guided by its mission to convert Filipinos into instant “Iponaryos”, the country’s leading micro-financial services provider set out to conduct financial wellness program cascades in its own branches and other venues nationwide, utilizing its 8,000-strong workforce. To date, Cebuana Lhuillier has cascaded the value of savings to various communities, enabling more than 30,000 attendees from far-flung barangays, schools, non-government organizations, local government units, and cooperatives, to start their journey towards financial independence. “What started out as a dream has become a reality. There were over two million previously unbanked Filipinos nationwide but can now access and save through their micro savings accounts,” said Jean Henri Lhuillier, Cebuana Lhuillier president and CEO. “This groundbreaking product was designed with the premise that Filipinos, given the right financial tools… Read More

Cebuana Lhuillier grows a nation of Iponaryos

More than 1.7 million Filipinos are now a step closer to financial freedom after opening Cebuana Lhuillier Micro Savings accounts. Considered as Iponaryos, the micro savings account owners are encouraged to follow the Iponaryo philosophy of saving at least PhP50,000 a year using their KaCebuana Ipon Diary. To date, Cebuana Lhuillier, through its 8,000 employees, has cascaded the financial wellness philosophy to more than 10,000 individuals from far-flung barangays, schools, NGOs, LGUs, and cooperatives. By year-end, it aims to conduct at least 500 more cascades towards its thrust to convert at least three million Iponaryos nationwide. Read More