BTI Payments partners with Southstar Drug to expand Philippines footprint

MANILA, Philippines — BTI Payments Philippines Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Australia’s Banktech, has partnered with Southstar Drug to further expand its footprint in the Philippines.

Under the partnership, BTI Payments will deploy 50 Pay&Go kiosks in Southstar Drug stores nationwide, including 25 in the National Capital Region (NCR), 20 in Luzon, and five in Visayas.

BTI Payments CEO Dan Ibarra said the deployment of Pay&Go kiosks in Southstar Drug stores is a critical move to improve financial service accessibility in the Philippines.

“This partnership reflects our commitment to empowering Filipinos with convenient financial services and aligns with our vision of building an extensive network that will support the country’s financial ecosystem,” Ibarra said.

Southstar Drug general manager Mariel Crisostomo is also optimistic about the partnership, emphasizing Pay&Go’s role in advancing the company’s customer service goals.

“Incorporating Pay&Go services into our network will significantly improve our customer service and accessibility. This integration not only enriches our offerings, but also positions us to better meet the progressive needs of our customers, enhancing their overall experience in our stores,” Crisostomo said.

The integration of Pay&Go kiosks into Southstar Drug stores marks the companies’ shared effort to provide convenient and accessible services to Filipinos.

Looking ahead, BTI Payments and Southstar Drug are dedicated to expanding this initiative, aiming to increase the reach of these essential services.

The partnership is expected to set a precedent for future collaborations in the retail and financial sectors, paving a model that can bring greater financial access in the Philippines.

Ibarra earlier told The STAR the company is ramping up the deployment of payment kiosks all over the country to boost the financial inclusion efforts of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

According to Ibarra, BTI Payments fully supports the Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap of the BSP which aims to shift half of total retail payments in the country to electronic channels and increase the number of banked Filipino adults to 70 percent.

With the global health crisis serving as catalyst, Filipinos embraced digitalization, paving the way for the increase of the share of digital payments to total retail transactions to 42.1 percent in 2022 from 30.3 percent in 2021.

Likewise, the number of banked Filipino adults also almost doubled to 56 percent in 2021 from 29 percent in 2019.

BTI Payments aims to deploy 2,300 Pay&Go kiosks all over the country by June from the current number of 1,700. This would help translate to a 42.8-percent jump in the number of users to about 10 million from the existing seven million users.

BTI Payments is certified by the BSP as an operator of payments systems that develops and deploys payments kiosks and independent ATMs.