MVP pushes digital payments to fast-track financial inclusion in Philippines

MANILA, Philippines - PLDT chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan is urging partner companies and institutions to help promote electronic payments as a way of speeding up digital financial services adoption and push for more financial inclusion among Filipinos.

Speaking during a partner event hosted by PLDT and Smart’s digital unit Voyager Innovations and financial services subsidiary Smart eMoney Inc., Pangilinan reaffirmed the group’s commitment to help push for digital financial inclusion through collaboration and use of innovative technology.

“With all our combined forces, having the biggest customer franchise in the country and our wide reach and depth of engagement with consumers and stakeholders, we can all make a big push in promoting digital payments in many forms, from person to person to enterprise levels,” Pangilinan said.

Present during the “Partnering Towards Digitizing Payments: A Collaboration Driving Electronic Transactions” event were CEOs and heads of leading companies, government agencies, international humanitarian and aid agencies, international development organizations, and financial institutions such as the  Asian Development Bank (ADB), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), CIGNAL, Bayad Center, Department of Budget and Management, Landbank, Maynilad, Meralco, Metro Pacific Investments Corp., Manila North Tollways Corp., Microcredit Council, National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO),  Philippine Disaster Recovery Foundation, PLDT, PLDT-Smart

Foundation, United Nations Development Programme, UN-Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), SuySing, PLDT, Smart, Visa and the World Bank.

PLDT, through Smart, is the global pioneer in mobile money. It currently leads with the highest volume of mobile payments and transfers in the country. The same platform supports other mobile money operations in a number of other countries.

Pangilinan’s call is in support of the recently launched National Strategy for Financial Inclusion (NSFI) initiative of the BSP led by Her Majesty Queen Maxima of the Netherlands and United Nations Secretary General?s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development and the e-Peso project of the USAID for the development of the country’s national retail payments system envisioned by the BSP.

In its first baseline report published this July and discussed during the NSFI launch, the BSP cites lack of funds and access as among the gaps contributing to the still large number of uncarded and unbanked in the country.  For example, the average length of time to reach the nearest bank and ATM is 26 minutes and 22 minutes, respectively. It also costs an average of 52 and 47, respectively for a two-way trip to the nearest bank and ATM.

The results of the survey corresponds to the 2014 World Bank Global Findex released last April, the world?s most comprehensive gauge of progress on financial inclusion, where data shows that only 31 percent of Filipinos have bank accounts and only 18 percent of all adults in the poorest 40 percent of households in the Philippines are banked. The reports classifies financial inclusion as “having an account that allows adults to store money and make and receive electronic payments.”

The World Bank report also noted innovations in technology can make financial services such as credit and ePayments more accessible to a larger population, increase efficiencies, and reduce costs.

Pangilinan, together with Voyager and Smart eMoney president and CEO Orlando B. Vea, gave the partners a preview of various innovations on inclusive digital financial services solutions that will be rolled out in the coming months.

“With the increasing adoption of smartphones and data usage, the Philippines is making a breakthrough in digital services, including the area of financial inclusion. Instead of just looking at the gaps in the financial inclusion index, we see all these as a huge opportunity for us and our partners to create more relevant digital financial services that can impact on lives,” Vea said.

Stu Tomlinson, Visa country manager, Philippines and Guam said: “Visa is proud to support Smart e-Money in a shared vision to accelerate the growth of commerce through the electronification of payments.”

Smart eMoney, has been at the forefront of electronic payments since 2000, launching the world’s first mobile cash card linked to a phone. What started as Smart Money gave way to other groundbreaking services such as Smart Load for mobile top ups, Pasa Load for peer-to-peer transfers and Smart Padala, the leading brand for domestic remittances.

In 2014 alone, Smart eMoney, in partnership with Landbank, NATCCO and various international humanitarian and aid agencies, has helped disburse over P5.2 billion worth of cash grants to more than 1.5 million household beneficiaries, making it the single biggest conduit covering 10 out of 18 regions in the country.

Earlier in April this year, Smart eMoney became the first non-financial institution in Southeast Asia and the second in the world to get a principal license for issuing and acquiring business from Visa.

Meanwhile, through Voyager?s multi-awrded innovative platform, the Landbank Mobile Loan Saver program for government employees,  it has processed over P2.6 billion in loans in less than 10 months since it was introduced in September last year. It has recently been awarded the Best in Core Banking and the Best in Mobile Banking Initiative by the Asian Banking and Finance in Singapore.

Together with Citi Philippines and Visa, Voyager launched the pioneering Charge2Phone or C2P service that allows Smart subscribers  to use the country?s first sticker-based NFC contactless payment for in-store transactions and the use of the subscriber?s mobile number instead of the usual 16-digit credit card number for online purchase.

Voyager’s LockByMobile anti-fraud and card control mobile platform for prepaid, debit and credit cards is also another innovative product that has already been garnering positive response from the banking and financial services sector here and abroad. It was voted among the Best of Fintech during the Finovate Europe event held in London.

PLDT, through Smart eMoney, also formed a strategic partnership investment with global technology company Rocket Internet last year for emerging market digital payments solutions.