Salmon Group Ltd

We have partnered with the Asia United Bank (AUB) and MatchMove to launch the Salmon Access Card, a prepaid card directly linked to Salmon Credit, our revolving credit facility. Having this card will allow more Filipinos to access credit in a convenient and widely accepted format. Before the Salmon Access Card was launched, our customers could only pay through QR PH or transfer funds to e-wallets or bank accounts. This card now offers our customers a physical payment option that's also compatible with retailers that accept Mastercard. New clients can now avail of this card in six (6) SM Store locations in Metro Manila: SM Mall of Asia, SM Makati, SM Megamall, SM Manila, SM Fairview, and SM North EDSA. Learn more about it here: https://lnkd.in/gtc5acVw 

For this week's People of Salmon, we spoke to Salmon Credit Growth Product Manager Anna Braginova. Anna's work has brought her to Manila, where she gets a lot of energy working with a strong team and working on products and services to improve the financial market in the Philippines. What makes Salmon such a great place to work? "There's a huge field for freedom and space. If you're ready to take on responsibility, you'll grow. If you're ready to achieve results and meet set goals, you'll grow twice as fast," She shares. Beyond bringing our credit product's economics to positive and showing its viability, Anna considers quality service to be one of her most memorable accomplishments to date. "For our customers, I consider the most significant achievement to be the convenient application process, which we continuously improve," Anna adds. "It's motivating to know that people no longer need to visit a branch to get a loan, gather tons of documents, or wait for weeks. Now, from the moment they decide to get money for a new washing machine, home renovation, or education, it takes just 15 minutes to apply and receive the money." Our credit product is now being introduced to more of our retailer partners, making it easier for more Filipinos to access financing for needs like groceries and hardware, among others. The work and the larger mission may seem daunting, but Anna remains unfazed. In fact, she finds our work at Salmon energizing and motivating and she hopes that more people would join Salmon for the same reasons. "If you're looking for experience that will be useful not only in work but in life, if you're ready to change your perception of reality, come and change your life and the lives of those around you."

What's next for Salmon as we head into 2025? We have our eye on a thrift bank license as part of our efforts to support financial inclusion efforts in the Philippines. “Right now, what we can see is that a thrift bank will make sense. But we need to make sure we’re ready capital-wise and (meet) other prudential criteria of the BSP,” he said. “But that’s our ambition, to be a thrift bank,” shared Salmon co-founder Raffy Montemayor. Learn about our plans for the next year here: https://lnkd.in/gnJpDR96

How is the private sector contributing to financial inclusion in the Philippines? At the European Chamber of Commerce's Luncheon Meeting, Salmon co-founder @George Chesakov shared his insights and experiences building and growing a fintech company in the Philippines. Some of the initiatives we've launched since we started our work in the Philippines include a physical card attached to our credit line and a time deposit product at the Rural Bank of Sta. Rosa which offers an 8.88% interest rate. He also talked about how our work supports financial inclusion efforts in the Philippines. The meeting also played host to the Deputy Governor of the Financial Supervision Sector for the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (the Philippines' central bank) Hon. Chuchi Fonacier and focused on the emerging opportunities and challenges in the financial sector, the growing demand for digital services, and how the public and private sector can work to achieve financial inclusion in the country. (Photo credit: European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines)

The holidays can be a demanding time physically, but also financially. It can be tempting to give in to the You Only Live Once mindset or the indulgence that comes with the season, but spending without mindfulness can lead to an even more stressful start to 2025. But that doesn't mean that you have to tighten the pursestrings to the point that you can't even enjoy the season. How can you achieve the balance between enjoying your hard work and setting yourself up to meet your financial goals? Read our blog to find out! Check out our blog post here: https://lnkd.in/gvkPeEF3

We're closing the year with more good news. Salmon is currently working to increase the Rural Bank of Sta. Rosa (Laguna)'s capital to ₱ 2 billion by the end of 2025 and to apply for a thrift banking license, to help us achieve our goals of furthering financial inclusion in the Philippines. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/erpgacqq

What a year for Salmon, one that's certainly worth celebrating! This 2024, we've secured additional funding, expanded our team to serve more Filipinos, and pushed our mission of achieving financial inclusion forward through new products and services we offer through our app, in-store financing, and the Rural Bank of Sta. Rosa (Laguna). At our year-end party, we celebrated not just these milestones but also the people and teams that have made our work possible. We gave out awards such as Manager of the Year, Salesperson of the Year, and the Rising Star Award to honor our top performers. Our CEO George Chesakov also led the celebration by sharing a recap of our milestones for this year. Our founders also talked about how we can build on our achievements this year so we can serve more Filipinos and make it easier for them to access innovative and accessible financing options. Cheers to our team and our partners, thank you for a great 2024!

Meet our newest retail partner, ACE Hardware! In our mission to provide greater access to financing for more Filipinos, Salmon has partnered with one of the country's leading home and office improvement solutions providers known for its brand of expert customer service. Shop with Salmon Financing now at the following ACE Hardware branches: ACE Builders SM Fairview, ACE Builders SM North Edsa, ACE Builders SM Pampanga, ACE Mall of Asia, ACE SM City Tuguegarao, ACE SM Bacolod, ACE SM Bacoor, ACE SM Batangas, ACE SM Butuan, ACE SM Cagayan de Oro, ACE SM Megamall, ACE SM CDO Downtown, ACE SM Cebu, ACE SMC Tuguegarao, ACE SM City Roxas, ACE SM Consolacion, ACE SM Davao, ACE Marilao, ACE SM Iloilo, ACE SM Cauayan, ACE SM Seaside Cebu, ACE SM Calamba, ACE SM Dasmarinas, ACE SM Lipa, ACE SM Lucena, ACE SM City Sto Tomas, ACE SM Sta Rosa, and ACE SM Trece Martires.

For this week's People of Salmon, we're featuring Jewel Ann Aquino, the HR Manager of Salmon Group's bank, the Rural Bank of Sta. Rosa (Laguna). Jewel has been playing a key role in Salmon's growth, as she has been working with the founders and the Rural Bank of Sta. Rosa (Laguna)'s employees to ensure that the bank's acquisition will be smooth and that the employees would be excited about Salmon and RBSL's shared goals moving forward. One of those goals is making sure that we see gains in financial inclusion in the Philippines. "Before Salmon, I took banking services for granted—I thought everyone had the same access. But learning that so many people don’t have access to basic banking services really changed my perspective," Jewel noted. "It made me appreciate what I have and motivated me to support Salmon’s mission of bringing that same comfort and convenience to unbanked Filipinos." While managing change and employee expectations might seem daunting, Jewel enjoys Salmon's learning culture and the trusting nature of our leaders and her colleagues. "Reporting directly to one of the founders can be tough, but it's empowering. Knowing that my opinions are valued and trusted gives me confidence," She shares. "With my colleagues, it feels like a real team effort every day."

🚀 Salmon’s eKYC Solution: A Game-Changer in Financial Accessibility At Salmon, AI is at the heart of everything we do, and our eKYC solution is a prime example of this philosophy in action. Late last year, we replaced a vendor-provided eKYC system with an in-house solution, and the results speak for themselves: 💰 Over 10x cost reduction in processing a single eKYC check. 🌟 $314,000+ saved in just six months, while maintaining unparalleled quality. 🔒 Better security: Our solution effectively detects fraud, ensuring a seamless customer experience with improved OCR accuracy and form completion rates. Our approach demonstrates our ability to move fast and develop critical pieces of technology, cutting out expensive vendors while building scalable solutions tailored to our unique needs. The true value of this strategy will only shine brighter as we grow. Our eKYC system is powered by a blend of cutting-edge technologies: ✅ Proprietary mobile app and backend development. ✅ Extensive use of AWS AI services, paired with our in-house ML models. ✅ Comprehensive checks including liveness detection, document OCR, fraud verification, and advanced face-matching against our database. “Artificial Intelligence is the driving force behind our eKYC success. By combining AWS AI services with our custom ML models, we’ve created a solution that not only outperforms vendor systems but also adapts to evolving threats and customer needs in real-time. This synergy between AI and microservice architecture is what enables us to deliver secure, scalable, and cost-effective solutions.” – Boris Voskresenskii, Head of AI This innovation isn’t just about savings. It’s about empowering Filipinos with greater access to financial services by making our products more affordable and accessible.