Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation's Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer Lito Villanueva was chosen to be part of an exclusive roster of executives, 'Legend CIO,' by the World CIO Summit 2023 for his exemplary efforts in accelerating digitalization in the country.

Villanueva is the brainchild of the country's multi-awarded and the world's first multi-lingual financial inclusion app in Taglish and Cebuano known as RCBC DiskarTech and the trailblazer of upscaling mass affluent RCBC Digital, now RCBC Pulz, and the country's first and largest network of bank-agnostic and last mile mobile-point-of-service ATM service, RCBC ATM Go.

The RCBC Executive also launched the country's first phygital or physical-digital solution – RCBC Moneybela – Mobile Barangayan Banking to accelerate the financial inclusion efforts of the fintech industry and the government, and to scale digital and financial literacy in rural and remote areas.

The multi-awarded executive said that the recognition is both a bonus and a booster for his team and himself in improving, scaling, and creating sustainable, inclusive, socially-impactful and life-enabling financial solutions that are accessible through one tap on every Filipino's smartphone.

"Every recognition is a much needed fuel for every RCBC employee to continue the remarkable transformative work that we are doing in communities and to increase the number of livelihood opportunities and educational engagements in low-income and underserved areas," said Villanueva.

"We did not just think outside the box, we reinvented the box to become worthy of a hundred awards and counting, and to become community transformers in the fields of digital and financial literacy," added Villanueva.

Villanueva was also recently named Digital Leader of the Year by PhilSec Awards, hailed among the 2023 Seamless Asia's Top 50 Banking and Payments Leaders, Top 100 Fintech Leaders in Asia, Top 100 Filipinos on LinkedIn, Mr. Fintech of the Philippines by BizNews Asia, and Chief Innovation Officer of the Year by The Banker, among his over 70 global and regional accolades. He released various publications, including the award-winning Inclusive Digital Finance Report. He also has a regular business column Bytes in the Philippine Star.