Cooperative goes electronic banking
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines/06 August 2009 by BP Garcia – With barely more than two years in operations, the Aurora Integrated Multipurpose Cooperative (AIMCOOP) launched Thursday the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) service enabling the cooperative to serve 24 hours a day and seven days a week to its thousands of clientele in this southern port city.
AIMCOOP General Manager Pacienciano Tomarong said the launching of the ATM service in this city is the 12 for cooperative which has 21 branches in the Visayas and Mindanao regions.
Tomarong said that AIMCOOP is the first cooperative in Mindanao to engage in electronic banking and the second in the country as the first one that launched ATM service to its clientele is a cooperative based in the Visayas region.
He said AIMCOOP members who are holders of ATM cards could also transact with other banking institutions that are members of the Bancnet, Megalink and Expressnet as the cooperative qualified to the standards of the three banking networks.
He said ATM card holders of other banking institutions that are members of the three banking networks could also make transactions with any of the 12 AIMCOOP branches that have ATMs.
City Council’s chairman of the Committee on Cooperatives Councilor Cesar Iturralde described the launching of ATM service by AIMCOOP as the first of its kind in this southern port city.
“This (launching of ATM service) will bring more effective services especially to cooperatives in the city of Zamboanga,” Iturralde said.
Iturralde said the launching of ATM service by AIMCOOP is a step forward for the cooperative as “this will make them more efficient in their business transaction in this city.”
The AIMCOOP branch in Zamboanga City is barely more than two years in operations as it opened its branch here on July 20, 2007.
Tomarong disclosed that the AIMCOOP branch in Zamboanga City has at present 10,868 members and the number of membership is still growing.
Tomarong said they intend to open three more branches to expand its services in this southern port city.
AIMCOOP services include savings, time deposits, loans, money transfer and special kiddy and teen savings.
AIMCOOP was organized in the town of Aurora in Zamboanga del Sur province by a Columbian priest in 1967 with 44 members and with total capitalization of P400.
AIMCOOP grew from a community cooperative to become a town cooperative and later on branches out to other places in Mindanao and the Visayas regions. (BP Garcia, The PhilSouth Angle)
