Got a dream but no cash? The Internet can help

Chris Waddell wants to climb Kilimanjaro in a wheelchair; George Del Barrio wants to make a film in Cambodia; Jeff Edwards wants to write a book about a science fiction writer: they want you to fund their dreams.

A website called Kickstarter.com is making it possible for people like this to raise sums ranging from a few hundred to tens of thousands of dollars to fund anything that captures the imagination of Internet users with a little money to spare.

It worked for Emily Richmond, a 24-year-old living in Los Angeles who plans to sail solo around the world for two years.

She has raised $8,142 from 148 people who will receive rewards such as Polaroid photos from the trip, an origami sailboat or a telephone call when she crosses the equator.

Landon Ray, who runs a marketing software firm called SendPepper.com, gave $500 after showing his 5-year-old daughter Richmond's video promising to keep donors updated by blog and send rewards such as a coconut mailed from a far-flung port.

"I thought this was a perfect learning experience for my daughter," Ray said, adding that he also dreamed of sailing the world himself, so it was partly about living vicariously.

Ray also plans to use his sponsorship as a marketing tool.

Many of the projects on the site are by filmmakers, musicians, artists and writers. Project creators set a time limit and a target. If they don't reach it, they get nothing.

Communities online and offline

Jason Bitner's pitch for $7,500 to pay for post-production of a documentary about the small Midwestern town of La Porte, Indiana, was so popular it raised $12,153.

The film is about an archive of portraits by a photographer who died in 1971. Bitner came across boxes of the pictures in the back room of a diner and has published a book. The film features interviews with the subjects 40 or 50 years later.

"This film is very much about community," Bitner said. "We decided early on we wanted to do community-based funding, sort of crowd-sourced things."

About a third of his 149 backers were friends and family. Others include residents of La Porte but also people from as far afield as Denmark and Australia.

Jonathan Scott Chinn, who is seeking $16,500 to make a short comedy-horror film called "Always a Bridesmaid," said the site was an efficient "creative marketplace."

"You're given the opportunity to make your pitch, and if it's really interesting, it will take off," Chinn said.

Independent singer-songwriter Brad Skistimas, 26, has been using the Internet for eight years to promote his one-man band Five Times August. He used Kickstarter to raise $20,000 to finance his new album "Life As A Song," due out October 13.

Donations amounted to pre-orders of the album, giving fans early access as well as additional material such as handwritten lyrics, photos and, for $1,000, dinner with the singer.

"It's a great way to get involved with fans," Skistimas said. "I was marketing to my own fans, so I said 'If you guys want more music from me, now's a great time to help me out.'"

Kickstarter co-founder Perry Chen said around $500,000 had been donated in the four months since it was launched, with more than 60 percent of projects achieving their goal. Until now the site has charged no fee, but from mid-September it will charge 5 percent of funds donated to successful projects.

Chen said so far there had been no scams that he knows of, though plenty of projects simply don't take off.

"The model works really well to prevent any type of misbehavior because the people who fund these projects; there's always a core group of the person's social network," he said. "Those are bridges people will work very hard not to burn."

New ATM technology offered to rural banks

The country's largest independent automated teller machine provider is expanding its ATM network to 200 by the end of the year or early 2010, while making it affordable for small banks to become ATM card issuers using a new technology platform.

Electronic Network Cash Tellers Inc. (Encash), which currently has 126 ATMs deployed mostly in areas not attractive to regular banks, has also diversified its services by offering a new core banking solution called Savant.

The solution is a web-based suite of applications designed to provide rural banks a real, centralized, multibranch, online system with account balance updates performed in real time.

“Savant is getting good reaction. The application really fits the requirement of the rural banks,” Encash president Eric Severino said in an interview.

“We think of it as a vehicle where it would add more ATM transactions to our ATM business because it now allow rural banks to issue ATM cards and use this in our network as well as in other networks,” Encash director Mike Mapa added.

Four of the country’s leading rural banks have already signed up for this banking solution—GM Bank of Nueva Ecija, Bank of Florida of Pampanga, Bangko Kabayan of Batangas and 1st Valley Bank of Lanao del Norte.

IBM to get workers for ‘delivery center’

TECHNOLOGY GIANT IBM Corp. yesterday re-launched a "delivery center" in a bid to bring more job opportunities to local talents.

Richard A. Patterson, vice-president for global delivery at IBM Global Business Services, said the Philippine strategic center aims to provide more information technology careers in the country as the company brings its clients near their target markets.

The Manila delivery center, which was established in 2003, is the fourth fastest growing center in eight strategic hubs globally, he said in a press conference.

Mr. Patterson said the Philippines was chosen as a location for the delivery center because of the stability of the peso and the "high level of support" from the government.

Moreover, "good quality" education, language proficiency, and the technical capacities of local talents make the Philippines an ideal place for a global delivery center, he added.

The Manila delivery center is part of IBM’s "globally integrated enterprise approach," adopted by the technology giant to give corporate clients an option to provide services close to their target markets.

Mr. Patterson explained that global delivery centers cater to both large companies and small and medium enterprises by providing consulting and applications services.

IBM’s delivery centers worldwide are focused toward the transportation, banking, telecommunication and industrial sectors, Mr. Patterson said.

PSE, Thomson Reuters ink accord on Makati eBoard

The Philippine Stock Exchange and Thomson Reuters signed a memorandum of agreement to redo the Makati eBoard located at the Insular Life building at the corner Ayala Avenue and Paseo de Roxas.

Under the agreement, Thomson Reuters will have the exclusive right to publish real-time market prices, news and summaries on the electronic display board in Makati City.

“The PSE continues to seek effective ways to raise its investor base to a significant share of the population. We partnered with Thomson Reuters for a more dynamic form of communicating with the investing community to deliver a stronger, more visual message that the stock market is a viable alternative especially during these difficult times,” Francis Lim, PSE president said.

He added that “information and technology play crucial roles in investment decisions and we are improving on both these respect to help the market and its industry players make more prudent and accurate calls.”

News feeds of Thomson Reuters will be seen at the electronic screen from 6 in the morning until 12 am starting on August 19, 2009.

Thomson Reuters Philippines managing director Rainer Fuchsluger said “the financial landscape is constantly transforming. That’s why market professionals need reliable insight to feel confident in their trading and investment decision making.”

He added that Thompson Reuters and the PSE are mutually exploring future investor relations and education programs that will strengthen the local stock market going forward.

Mobile microfinance bank gears up

LOW-INCOME households may soon avail of loans with the aid of their mobile phones, with the mobile microfinance bank of the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) and Globe Telecom, Inc. about to commence operations.

BPI President and Chief Executive Officer Aurelio R. Montinola III said the joint venture of the two Ayala firms had obtained central bank approval earlier this month, which will allow it to start operations in a month or two.

"We are going to have our first board meeting [this week or the next]. We will have our operating systems — loans and deposit-taking — [in place] within the next month or two," Mr. Montinola told reporters late last week.

The joint venture will use the banking license of Pilipinas Savings Bank, Inc., a BPI subsidiary, as vehicle for extending microfinance loans.

BPI, the country’s third largest bank, would transfer its microfinance business — it extended wholesale loans to microfinance institutions — to the mobile bank. It used to lend P500-P600 million annually to these institutions.

Globe, the country’s second largest telecommunication firm, is no stranger to the microfinance business either. It has been facilitating money transfers between rural banks and their clients using its G-Cash platform.

The mobile microfinance bank would use G-Cash’s network of over 3,000 outlets and initially extend wholesale loans to microfinance institutions.

Mr. Montinola said the mobile bank would start servicing retail customers next year.

"We will use the rest of the year to put things together. It’s really next year when we are going to concentrate on doing more things," Mr. Montinola said.

He added that aside from giving retail microfinance loans, the mobile bank would also offer deposit services to clients.

Details on how the retail microfinance loans will be distributed through mobile phone technology are still being ironed out, Mr. Montinola said.

"The bank knows certain things, and people from Globe are experts on technology. You put the two together and there are a lot of possibilities. We are hoping the synergy will be positive," he said.

The joint venture was hatched after Globe and parent firm Ayala Corp. bought stakes in Pilipinas Savings Bank from BPI.

BPI and Globe now each have a 40% stake in the thrift bank while Ayala Corp. has 20%.

Based on central bank data, Pilipinas Savings Bank, with a lone office in Greenhills, San Juan, has assets totaling P367.84 billion as of the first quarter.

The mobile bank will have a capitalization of P400 million.

The mobile microfinance bank will have Gerardo C. Ablaza, Jr., former Globe president, as chairman and Teresita B. Tan, currently senior vice-president and head of BPI overseas banking and channels services group, as president.

BPI’s move is consistent with those of other universal and commercial banks that are venturing into microfinance.

Yuchengco-led Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) bought Batangas-based JP Laurel Rural Bank in February, while mid-sized commercial bank Asia United Bank is acquiring the Rural Bank of Angeles to gain a foothold on the retail microfinance business, which has been very lucrative for rural banks.

In microfinance, loans not higher than P150,000 can be extended with relatively higher interest rates. Repayment can be done on a daily, weekly, bimonthly or monthly basis, making the turnaround of funds faster compared to providing consumer or corporate loans.

BPI’s mobile microfinance bank will also complement Globe’s business, said Rizza Maniego-Eala, president of G-Xchange, Inc. (GXI), Globe ’s wholly owned subsidiary running the G-Cash platform.

"GXI is the vehicle for providing financial services but there are some things we cannot do. That’s why we decided to invest in the bank," she said.

Allied Bank-PNB merger to come about in 6 to 9 months, says exec

LUCIO Tan-controlled Philippine National Bank (PNB) and Allied Banking Corp. may be able to fully merge their operations within the next six to nine months, according to PNB president and chief executive officer Omar Byron Mier.

The merger was supposed to have been completed by the middle of this year but was delayed because of the need to comply with US banking regulations requiring Allied Bank to divest its 28-percent equity share in California-based Oceanic Bank prior to merger.

In an interview with reporters on Friday night, Mier said two investment banks—which he declined to identify—were recently hired to speed up the sale of the shares in Oceanic.

“[The investment banks] are talking to prospective investors and there’s interest coming from some funds in South America, Europe and the US,” he said. “So the merger will happen in the next six to nine months.”

PNB, the surviving entity in the merger, is hoping to become the fourth-largest domestic bank in terms of assets, deposits and loans after swallowing Allied Bank. As of end-March, it was No. 5—behind Banco de Oro Unibank, Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., Bank of the Philippine Islands and state-owned Land Bank of the Philippines—in assets.

The two banks had a combined asset base of P456 billion as of end-March, bigger than fourth placer LandBank’s’ P427 billion.

PNB ranked sixth-biggest in deposits and was No. 9 in net loans and receivables as of end-March.

The merger was originally expected to be completed by the end of 2008 but had to be pushed back because of the regulatory issue.

Allied Bank initially thought it would need not more than six months to complete the sale of its shares in the $30-million US bank. But selling at a premium in a recessionary environment proved to be difficult.

“That’s the only thing holding back the legal merger of Allied Bank and PNB,” Mier said. “We will not sell at a loss. Definitely we have to sell at a premium and there is interest because [Oceanic] is a profitable bank.”

Despite the merger delay, the two banks have started synchronizing their information-technology systems and aligning products, policies and procedures.

They are also preparing to expand into China. On Friday the two banks separately disclosed to the stock exchange the approval of the China Banking Regulatory Commission on the equity investment they were to make in Allied Commercial Bank (ACB) based in Xiamen.

Mier said PNB and Allied Bank will invest $88 million in ACB to jump-start the expansion in China. PNB will have a 41-percent stake in ACB and Allied will have 50 percent, while certain individuals will own the remaining 9 percent, he said.

In their disclosures on Friday, PNB said it would invest 394.1 million yuan in ACB while Allied Bank said it would put in an additional 153.98 million yuan and convert its share of 42.9 million yuan in undivided profits in ACB into equity.

Mier, however, said the expansion in China will only begin when ACB, which has a branch in Chonquing, meets the minimum required net worth of 1 billion yuan.