CitySavings provides banking solutions for Filipino mass market

MINERVA BC NEWMAN

CEBU CITY – City Savings Bank (CitySavings), a subsidiary of Union Bank of the Philippines and one of the largest thrift banks in the country continues to provide comprehensive yet simple banking solutions for the target Filipino mass market.

With the tagline “Simple is Good”, CitySavings offers straightforward banking services and a wide range of mass market financial products such as salary loans for both public and private school teachers and government workers, pension loans, motorcycle loans, and even company loans.

CitySavings AVP - Reputation and Brand Management Head Paula Ruelan said that the bank remains steadfast in its commitment to serving customers and the community through innovative and relevant products that make banking simple.

“Since the Bank was founded more than five decades ago, the focus is really on the mass market which differentiates us from the other featured groups here at the UnionBank Innovation Festival. Our goal is to become the leading digital mass market bank in the Philippines and further promote financial inclusion,” Ruelan added.

CitySavings recently joined the 2022 UnionBank Innovations Festival last September 7-9 held at the newly inaugurated UnionBank Innovation Campus, City of San Pedro, Laguna in celebration of numerous digital solutions, trends, and innovations in technology and their applications to the lives of Filipinos.

Ruelan shared that apart from promoting simple and straightforward banking solutions, CitySavings also advocates for sustainability. When transportation became a challenge due to country-wide lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the bank saw an opportunity to provide a more affordable mode of transportation to Filipinos while also giving traditional tricycle drivers a way to increase their income and switch to a more sustainable livelihood.

Tricycles are the most widespread mode of transportation in the country for its practicality and convenience, especially in far-flung areas but due to their increasing population, tricycles are becoming one of the major contributors to air and noise pollution, as well as traffic congestion in some areas.

This presented an opportunity for City Savings Bank to help in curbing and minimizing the adverse impacts of the use of conventional tricycles by partnering with Elaia Green Vehicles Corporation (Elaia) to launch its e-trike program.

Through the program, interested clients can apply for a motorcycle loan with CitySavings and receive their own e-trike unit supplied by Elaia, Ruelan said that this innovation was feature at the UnionBank Innovation Festival.

“We see a lot of possibilities that can be achieved through this project with Elaia. It’s a win-win solution for everyone. CitySavings helps the tricycle drivers finance the e-trikes and earn a livelihood while we are all saving the environment through a sustainable mode of transportation for the masses,” CitySavings EVP - Motorcycle Loans Business Head Ret. Adm. Feliciano Angue said.

CitySavings and Elaia recently signed a brand-new partnership with the City of San Pedro, Laguna, where both organizations would extend this program to the Tricycle Operators and Drivers’ Association (TODA) within the locality.  CitySavings hopes to expand its e-trike program even further, Ruelan said. (Photos: CitySavings FB)