Geniusto Brings Blockchain-Powered Social Banking to the Philippines

Australian emerging financial technology company Geniusto International Ltd. is set to launch its social banking service called ePera (eMoney) to the Philippines.

Shane Hermans, Geniusto International founder, CEO and managing director told Cryptovest that the Social Banking Platform, ePera, will leverage blockchain for KYC /AML in order to help banks streamline their client onboarding processes. Geniusto also intends to utilize tokens as part of their loyalty program to enhance the peer-to-peer social banking experience, while providing social banking to the community and family-oriented groups.

“The logic of payments is the same in all banking systems,” said Hermans. But what makes ePera unique is it allows users to transfer and send money and at the same time set up group payments. This means that a group of individuals can pool their money to buy goods or services using their online accounts.

“The other parts of the platform is importing new contacts or credit cards like Visa or Mastercard and even to leverage the market for special deals and get rewards,” he added.

In addition, when enrolled in ePera, avoiding overdue bills is made easy because the system will send an alert whenever a payment is due, including electricity, water, cable service and others. The way ePera is interfaced also sets it apart from the traditional banking system.

“Social banking is designed to manage community, family and friends finances more effectively, including household budgeting that is so crucial for young couples in the wealth accumulation phase of their working lives and raising a family,” Hermans said.

The move by Genuisto supports the Philippine commercial banking industry’s initiative to capitalize on blockchain technology to promote financial inclusion and improve domestic money transfer services. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, in partnership with the banking sector is looking into the possibilities of DLT replacing wire transfers and other traditional banking services.

According to Hermans, ePera will give first mover advantage to selected banking partners who wish to leverage social buying trends as part of their digital banking ecosystem. The social banking platform is designed for digital traditional and nontraditional banks and brings a wide range of features and opportunities for banking clients and business partners.

Social banking enables banks to bring their users online by encouraging and incentivizing them to interact with the financial institution’s products and services. This will be mutually beneficial for both the business and the consumer in helping grow the social banking ecosystems.