Women’s World Banking congratulates its Philippine network member CARD Bank for receiving the financial inclusion champion award for the third year in a row from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Central Bank of the Philippines). This record has allowed CARD Bank to be inaugurated into the regulator’s Hall of Fame for that category. We are proud of our network member. Their commitment to and success in serving the low-income rural women in the Philippines is a beacon of inspiration for the rest of our network, and the microfinance industry as a whole.
Press release from CARD Bank:
![[From left to right]: Dr. Jaime Aristotle B. Alip, Founding and Managing Director, CARD MRI; Ms. Dolores M. Torres, President and CEO, CARD Bank, Inc.; Ms. Lorenza dT. Bañez, Executive Vice President, CARD Bank, Inc.; Mr. Amando M. Tetangco Jr., Governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas; Ms. Flordeliza L. Sarmiento, Executive Director, CARD, Inc.; Ms. Mary Jane A. Perreras, President and CEO, CARD SME Bank, Inc.](http://www.womensworldbanking.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/2013-CARD-Bank-BSP-Award.jpg)
CARD Banking Group:
BSP’s Hall of Fame for Financial Inclusion Champion
CARD Bank, Inc. and CARD SME Bank, Inc., both members of the CARD MRI group, received prestigious awards from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) during the 10th Awards Ceremony and Appreciation Lunch themed, “Hand in Hand in Sustaining a Steadfast and Strong Economy.”
CARD Bank, Inc., for the third straight year, is the Financial Inclusion Champion. This elevated the bank to become a Hall of Fame awardee for the said category. Looking back, CARD Bank, Inc. was established on September 1, 1997 and envisioned to build a sustainable financial institution owned, managed and controlled by the landless rural women by providing continued access to financial services to an expanding client base by organizing and empowering landless rural women.
Meanwhile, the CARD SME Bank, Inc., received the second place award also for the Financial Inclusion category. It was established on July 2011 to purposely reach out to clients who need bigger financial assistance on their businesses which microfinance service providers cannot cater anymore.
The award on Financial Inclusion recognizes partners who demonstrate tangible results in terms of breadth and depth of outreach to the previously unbanked or underbanked. The recipients of the award contribute to BSP’s goal of financial inclusion in the areas of policy and regulation, capacity-building, and consumer protection.
Other notable institution awarded is the Microfinance Council of the Philippines, Inc. (MCPI) as the Most Outstanding Financial Inclusion Partner this year. This year’s awarding ceremony recognized 71 outstanding institutional partners all over the country in different categories.
