San Pablo
City, Laguna – Thin
Thuong One-Member Limited Liability Microfinance
Institution (TYM), one of
Vietnam’s leading and
first official microfinance
institutions, visited CARD
Mutually Reinforcing Institutions (CARD MRI) for its
digitalization exposure on
May 29-31, 2023.
TYM took part in
a three-day microfinance
exposure and orientation
program at CARD MRI
to gain experience in the
actual implementation of
digitalization to use in providing services to their clients.
“CARD MRI digitalization is taking an advanced step bringing a
wide range of benefits to
its clients,” said TYM Deputy General Director Dao
Thanh Trang. Its digitalization can be the future of
the organization to provide
its MFI clients with more
convenience and become
more efficient in promoting
development.
“Our partnership
with CARD MRI has definitely stood the test of
time,” she continued. “Dr.
Jaime Aristotle B. Alip,
CARD MRI’s Founder and
Chair Emeritus, is the one
who gave us the heart to
do microfinance and inspired us to improve our
service to the marginalized. CARD MRI is a big
part of us.”
CARD MRI and
TYM have been in partnership since the early 1990s
when Dr. Alip served as
one of the consultants
who supported the establishment of TYM as a microfinance institution when
it was still a project of the
Vietnam Women’s Union
(VWU).
The partnership
between Dr. Alip and TYM
gave CARD MRI a platform to share its expertise across different fields
of microfinance over the
years.
Road to digitalization
CARD MRI has
continued to explore innovative ways to advocate
financial inclusion and
eradicate poverty. As it
provides Filipino families
with access to financial
services, its financial institutions allow financial
transactions through online platforms.
“Digital financial
inclusivity for all is our priority,” Dr. Alip stated. “And
we want to share our expertise and knowledge in
this field as we want microfinance clients to have
access to efficient, faster
financial services and
bring these kinds of services closer to them.”
To bring TYM
into the CARD MRI microfinance program, the
CARD-MRI Development
Institute (CMDI), the education arm of CARD MRI
Group, shared the knowledge, skills, and information in the digital realm of
the organization, and facilitated the three-day exposure program.
TYM acquired
knowledge of the CARD
MRI chain of responsibilities, including management techniques for digitization and customer care.
“CARD’s products and services are designed to serve people at
the grass-roots level, and
we can really learn a lot
from them,” Dao Thanh
Trang said. “We admire
the institution’s process,
and I believe that all of the
knowledge shared will be
beneficial to us.”
Through branch
visits, client interviews,
digital transaction observation, and unit operation
transactions, TYM had
firsthand experience of
CARD MRI’s actual digitalization implementation.
“The implementation of the institution’s
digitalization shows the
approaches to reach clients in order to see and
understand their needs
and conditions,” Dao
Thanh Trang stated.
CARD MRI’s digitalization journey comes
with konek2CARD, a mobile banking service; the
“E-Tanong Mo” ChatBot
service that responds to
CARD MBA’s members,
staff, and MBA coordinators’ queries; and OMS,
a CARD MRI monitoring
tool, all of which aim to
meet the diverse needs of
its clients and staff.
Also, CARD MRI
Information Technology,
Inc. (CMIT), an IT services institution specializing in integrated technology solutions, presented
CARD MRI’s Road to Digitization with TYM. The
Vietnamese organization
was also able to visit DMS
Bank in Indonesia to learn
about its digital practices and technology-based
services.
Dao Thanh Trang
elaborated on the potential impact of digitalized
products and services on
Vietnamese communities,
saying, “The infrastructure
in Vietnam is developing,
and MFI clients benefit
from these processes, so
digital microfinance services are necessary.”
Following the
exposure visit in the Philippines, TYM intends to
review their APP, TYM
Mobile, and make adjustments to fit clients’ needs
and conditions as a way to
implement digitalization in
Vietnam. PR
