As of July 2025, the share of people with a bank account in the Philippines remains around 50%, leaving many without access to formal financial services. With few opportunities to learn about finance at school or in daily life, systematic financial planning has not taken root. As a result, extremely high-interest moneylenders have proliferated, and a lack of financial knowledge leads many into multiple debts, unable even to question the unfairly high interest rates they are offered. Breaking this vicious cycle requires raising financial literacy so people can protect their assets and plan for the future.
To address this challenge, three companies joined forces across borders: Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC), a major Philippine commercial bank in which Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. (SMBC) holds an equity stake: SMBC and SMBC Consumer Finance Co., Ltd. (SMBCCF). The initiative began when RCBC’s management team, during a visit to Japan, showed strong interest in SMBCCF’s financial literacy education programs. Their shared desire to help solve social issues in the Philippines set in motion SMBC Group’s first overseas project in the financial literacy education field.
Bringing SMBC Group
Expertise to the Philippines:
A Financial Literacy Education
Program Reflecting
Local Laws and Daily Life
At the core of the project was transferring the financial literacy education expertise that SMBCCF had cultivated in Japan to RCBC in the Philippines. This was more than simply translating Japanese materials: the goal was to build an educational program that truly benefits the local community and is rooted in Philippine culture and society.
As the project moved forward, SMBC Group consistently maintained the stance that the local side should lead. Hide Marushima of SMBC’s Asia Growing Markets Dept., who served as the hub for the three companies, explains this principle:
“We were dedicated to providing high-quality support and always thought about what they wanted to achieve. We promoted the initiative with a conscious effort to respect that the main actors were them.”
Under this principle, collaboration with RCBC advanced through a structure in which Nini Yang of SMBCCF’s Overseas Business Dept. provided practical support, and Chidapa Osawa of Promise (Thailand)Co.,Ltd.’s Human Resource & General Affairs Dept., who was with SMBCCF’s Overseas Business Dept. at the time, contributed her expertise.
Beyond sharing educational materials, the team provided operational know-how such as seminar planning, instructor training and building relationships with educational institutions. They placed particular emphasis on localization to fit local culture and social context. An RCBC-affiliated university high school joined the effort, revising the materials to align with Philippine laws and customs and creating content people could relate to personally. The team also made learning enjoyable by avoiding technical jargon and adopting an interactive lecture format with quizzes.
Osawa, who played a central role in this initiative, is from Thailand and had long been concerned about social issues in Southeast Asia, so the project held special meaning for her. She recalls the start of the project:
“While working in public relations at SMBCCF and being involved in financial literacy education, I came to deeply understand the purpose and significance of this activity. That is why I strongly wanted to introduce this initiative to a region where it is truly needed and become someone who could be useful to society.”
How a Site Visit to Japan
Became a Turning Point for
SMBC Group's First Overseas
Financial Literacy
Education Program
In addition to differences in country, culture and business customs, there were initially no business contacts or relationships between SMBCCF and RCBC, creating communication barriers. To overcome them, Marushima acted as coordinator, and the team deepened mutual understanding through persistent dialogue in regular web conferences and other interactions. Osawa reflects on that time:
“Approaching it solely from a business standpoint was not getting us very far, so I focused on building personal relationships of trust where we felt comfortable consulting one another at any time.”
Amid these steady efforts to build relationships, a major turning point came when RCBC representatives visited Japan to observe a financial literacy education seminar at a Japanese high school. Yang, who coordinated the visit, describes the scene:
“Because some students were learning about finance for the first time, the SMBCCF employee leading the seminar made a point of explaining technical terms in an easy-to-understand way. For example, the term ‘name lending’ is difficult for high school students to grasp, so it was explained in a relatable way: ‘It is when you lend your driver’s license or card to an acquaintance or family member upon request.’”
Seeing these clear explanations and interactive methods, the RCBC team began generating concrete ideas, such as how they could adapt the content to make it even better in the Philippines. The experience from this study visit significantly accelerated the development of the local education program.
These on-the-ground efforts and achievements were backed by strong organizational support. Management teams at both companies were deeply involved, which enabled swift cross-border decision-making despite many stakeholders.
As a result, SMBC Group’s first overseas financial literacy education program, closely aligned with local needs, was launched. Since September 2023, the program has expanded to RCBC’s clients and to employees and students of corporate clients of SMBC’s Manila Branch, reaching 313 companies and approximately 19,000 people. Participants have expressed their gratitude, with one noting, “This was my first time receiving financial literacy education from a bank, and it was an extremely valuable learning experience.”
The program has also created a positive cycle within the organization, as RCBC employees serving as instructors take pride in conducting a socially meaningful activity, which has raised engagement. Carolyn Lim, Head of RCBC’s Retail Banking Group, expressed her gratitude to SMBCCF and confidence in the initiative:
“During the rollout of our program, we faced challenges with localizing materials and conducting instructor training, and SMBCCF provided invaluable support. Our client expressed appreciation, noting that we are the only bank offering financial literacy.”
Expanding the "Chain of
Knowledge" Created by
Financial Literacy Education
to Other Asian Countries
The success in the Philippines has become a model for SMBC Group’s overseas financial literacy education efforts. The initiative has now been introduced in Thailand, and future expansion to other Asian countries, such as Vietnam, is under consideration. “We hope to share the financial literacy education know-how cultivated in Japan with our local partners in various countries, customizing it to each country’s culture and economic situation so we can spread financial literacy to even more people,”
Yang says.
This project aims for more than one-off seminars. It seeks to create a chain of knowledge that raises society’s overall financial literacy, as people who gain financial knowledge pass it on to their families and friends. The team looks beyond this activity itself:
“Each effort may be small, but we believe that by continuing this activity and expanding our circle of partners, we can create a catalyst for changing an entire country.”
