Singapore-based Tyme Group, which has partnered with Gokongwei Group to launch GoTyme Bank in the Philippines, has had a long-standing relationship with Mambu, with the organisations working together for many years in South Africa, where Mambu powered South Africa’s TymeBank to transition into a fully-fledged digital bank.

Nate Clarke, President and CEO of GoTyme Bank, said: “With the knowledge gained from transitioning Tyme Bank in South Africa to a fully digital bank, we knew we needed GoTyme Bank to be ‘born in the cloud’ in order to have the capacity to scale efficiently, so Mambu’s SaaS cloud-native, API-first banking platform was the obvious choice for us. We understood what the Mambu platform was capable of and we were confident it would enable us to ‘lift and shift’ the TymeBank digital bank concept from South Africa to the Philippines, a market very similar in some ways, but very different in others, particularly in terms of the regulatory landscape.”

In a similar approach to Tyme Bank in South Africa, GoTyme Bank in the Philippines offers next-level digital banking services via kiosks set up in retail outlets belonging to Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc under the Gokongwei Group. GoTyme Bank will have more than 500 kiosks in operation by the end of 2023. These GoTyme kiosks, which will be opened right across the country, will enable access to secure, convenient and high quality financial services to the millions of Filipinos who are currently excluded from the formal banking system.

Continued Clarke: “Access to electronic payments has radically improved over the past few years in the Philippines, but access to basic accounts is only the beginning of what is required. Today, less than 3% of Filipinos have access to affordable credit such as a credit card, less than 3% have access to insurance, and less than 3% have access to high yield investments such as stocks. Every year, millions of smart, employed Filipinos fall short of their potential because they do not have access to high-quality banking products. At GoTyme Bank, we are here to unlock the financial potential of all Filipinos through next-level banking.”

Werner Knoblich, Chief Revenue Officer at Mambu, added: “TymeBank in South Africa has proven to be incredibly successful in serving a customer base with similar levels of financial exclusion as the Philippines. Mambu and Tyme Group’s prior experience working together meant that we truly hit the ground running in the Philippines, and didn’t need to ‘reinvent the wheel’ in a lot of instances. The result is an innovative, unique and customer-centric digital bank that has been designed specifically to meet the needs of Filipinos. Like the Tyme Group, our focus with everything we do is making banking better for everyone and improving access to financial services, so this partnership is rewarding on many levels.”

Products and services on offer to customers via GoTyme Bank at launch include a free Visa debit card for in-person and online purchases, bank transfers via the mobile app, and a valuable rewards program, Go Rewards, via partner Robinsons. Enabling digital transactions is of particular importance to Filipino customers, with the Philippines identified as one of the world’s leaders in the digitisation of financial services, as reported by the Philippine News Agency. This increase in digital transactions has been driven both by the pandemic and by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)’s commitment to reaching 50 per cent of total transactions being digital by 2023.

Christopher Bennett, Chief Technology Officer at GoTyme Bank concluded: “With the Mambu / Tyme Group digital banking model now proving successful in two countries, planning is underway to launch similar digital banks in other parts of Asia. Powered by Mambu’s world-class cloud banking platform, we want to see our customer-centric digital banking concept have a positive impact on financial inclusion right across the Asia Pacific region.

“By utilising Mambu’s cutting-edge platform and leveraging the country-wide reach of the Gokongwei Group’s ecosystem, GoTyme Bank has the unique opportunity to become deeply integrated into the lives of Filipino consumers.”

GoTyme Bank will roll out a number of innovative new products and services through the banking app in the coming months.