MANILA, Philippines—To help more Filipinos have a more secure future with savings and investments made more accessible through digital banking, two bankers are working to improve financial inclusion. GoTyme Bank’s Nate Clarke, President and CEO, and Albert Raymund “Abet” Tinio, Co-CEO and Chief Commercial Officer, are working hard to enable more unbanked Filipinos take advantage of secure and practical banking through “high-tech and high-touch” fintech services.
Banking on experience
These two C-Suite executives have a combined experience that is in line with their support for financial inclusion and literacy. Their expertise includes modifying people’s perceptions of banking by making it more approachable, convenient, and available.
Nate’s experience includes general management, product, and strategy, as well as leading the rollout of Tyme’s digital proposition in Indonesia, growing MTN Mobile Money in South Africa to a customer base of 4 million, and most recently leading product and strategy for Tyme in the creation of Africa’s fastest growing bank.
Abet, began his career in logistics before moving on to telco before joining the financial services industry as president and CEO of GCash. He was also the founding president of the Philippine E-Money Association, and before joining GoTyme, he was SVP for Digital Payments and Agency Banking at Robinsons Bank.
Both say that kind of fell into fintech. Nate is an American who grew up outside of Boston, Massachusetts. He worked in Management Consulting for US clients with audit and advisory firm Deloitte, but his travels abroad have exposed him to emerging markets.
“In 2010, I felt I wanted to do something different and I stumbled into this conference on mobile money. There were speakers from M-PESA in Tanzania, which was the first global success on e-wallets. I remember telling my colleague, this is what I want to do.”
Nate Clarke. Photo courtesy of GoTyme Bank.
Nate worked on a mobile healthcare project in Tanzania before becoming involved in a mobile money project in South Africa, which led to the establishment of Tyme as a fintech service provider in 2012.
“In 2018, we got our first bank license and launched that bank. One of our shareholders took us to Indonesia and that sparked the idea of expanding to Southeast Asia. We actually identified that Philippines a couple of years ago as the ideal market, and we were lucky to meet JG Summit, which is our partner for GoTyme.”
Albert counts financial inclusion as one of his main advocacies. “There’s a huge part of me that’s always looking to build a legacy, and I think that this is what GoTyme Bank can help me achieve. I wanted to build something on my own that can answer the needs of my fellow Filipinos who are unbanked or underbanked,” he shares.
Albert Tinio. Photo courtesy of GoTyme Bank.
Albert says e-wallets have given people the idea that there are better ways to do things, and the evolution of the internet have made it possible for more people to access financial services.
“Our house help used to send money to her child through a pawnshop, and to receive her remittance, the child had to travel for a few hours to a branch in their province. Now it is easier for people to send and receive money. Through digital banking, we will bring in quality, bring in consistency, and bring in a lot more convenience. What we’re out to prove is, ‘Hey, we are as convenient or even more convenient than a wallet, but as safe — or even safer than a traditional bank’. It is already happening in other countries why should the Philippines be left behind?”
Nate shares this success story in the South African setting. “Pat, a woman entrepreneur, launched a t-shirt printing business but with the Covid outbreak, her sales significantly slowed and she could not even manufacture anymore. She opened a personal and SME account with TymeBank and was awarded a spot at a trade fair where she did really well. For her success, she was awarded US$310,000, partially in a loan and partially in a grant.” He says Pat is participating in the pilot for TymeTrybe’s community platform for education and business tools.
Albert says that digital banking will also be of big help to the Philippines’ Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, as it will allow them to avail of loans more easily. “The advent of digital banks using technology and data derived from that technology helps make lending or advancing much easier. Alternative forms of data can create that kind of algorithm and credibility to help entrepreneurs who are good borrowers to avail of better credit.”
Check and balance
Outside of the office, these two fintech mavericks are involved in personal endeavors. Nate admits that the surfing scene was one of the few things he knew about the Philippines before moving here with his wife and four daughters. He enjoys riding the waves and has even spent a month in Siargao.
“One of the things that I love about surfing is that when you’re out waiting for waves, people in general are very relaxed and friendly. I think it’s an equalizer of sorts because no one’s looking at your work or the car we drive.” He says that this is what they want to deliver with GoTyme Bank. We want to deliver high-quality banking to everyone and treat everyone to be as important as the next client.”
Nate Clarke with his Family. Photo courtesy of GoTyme Bank.
Abet is off to the races in pursuit of the Abbott Six-Star Medal, which requires him to complete the world’s six major marathons in New York, Chicago, Boston, Berlin, London, and Tokyo.
“I was a runner in elementary and high school, stopped in college, and picked it up again in 2016.”
He had already run in the Berlin and Chicago marathons and was preparing to run in New York when the pandemic hit.
Albert Tinio in Chicago Marathon. Photo courtesy of GoTyme Bank.
“Marathon is about endurance and strategy, but they are also about the right timing and opportunity. You look at the route of a marathon and strategize when to run fast and when to conserve energy. I even plan where my wife should meet me to cheer me on because at that point I would already be exhausted. You can apply that same strategy to business. In our case with GoTyme Bank, we are about to launch and we took a lot of preparations, planning what we will focus on in the first three months, and so on. It’s a new field. It’s a new technology, so we’re being very, very conscious of how we deploy and use it.”
Abet is also an adoption advocate, having grown up with adopted siblings and having one adopted child who joined his family when he was less than two years old.
He is a member of NorFIL Adoptive Parents, a non-profit organization that promotes adoption, and he has noticed that there is a greater demand to adopt children from outside the Philippines rather than within the Philippines. He believes that the future of digital banking will also have an impact on this.
“I think it is because the foreigners are better off financially. We actually have more foster families from the middle income to low income. So, the capacity to love is there, right? With more Filipinos having access to better financial services, there will be more who can open their home and hearts for fostering and adoption.”
Find out more about GoTyme Bank through https://www.gotyme.com.ph/