Globe Telecom’s financial service subsidiary is set to launch QR code payments in the Philippines in a bid to replicate the success investor Ant Financial enjoys in China.
Globe subsidiary Mynt – which runs GCash – received a cash injection from Alipay owner Ant Financial in February and is now set to adopt similar tactics to those driving mobile payments adoption in China.
The facility to process point of sale transactions will be added to the GCash app, which already allows mobile top-up, money transfer and bill payment.
Globe estimates 70 per cent of the Filipino population are unbanked, while 90 per cent are unable to access formal credit – leading to the current popularity of cash payments in the country.
Globe president and CEO Ernest Cu said: “I believe e-payments have a tremendous amount of potential in the Philippines given the continuous growth of smartphone penetration and the number of unbanked Filipinos. Only a very select group of Filipinos have access to financial services so we want to provide that access to them.”
“Part of financial services is cashless payments. It has taken off in other countries like China and India where the people have realised its value because of the convenience and security that it provides – merchants and buyers don’t have to prepare change, e-money cannot be easily stolen, payments can easily be tracked, among other things.”