Digital platform seen to boost inclusive growth

MANILA, Philippines - Voyager Innovation and Smart eMoney’s vice president and head of financial innovations, digital inclusion and alliances Lito Villanueva emphasized the relevance of digitizing payments and driving electronic transactions to propel the government’s advocacy on inclusive growth.  

Villanueva was among the speakers during the annual conference of the Microfinance Council of the Philippines (MCPI) with this year’s theme, “Microfinance and Inclusive Growth” held in Manila recently.  

It highlighted Smart’s disbursement activities with government and international aid agencies in 2014 and how it became the country’s single biggest conduit covering 10 out of the 18 regions in the Philippines in partnerships with National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO) and the Land Bank of the Philippines.

The panel, chaired by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) ePESO chief of party John Owens, discussed and presented ways on how microfinance institutions can utilize e-money by being agents themselves using their branch network to support the requirements of their clients and the community for remittances, as an example. 

At the same time, they can enable their clients to become agents for related liquidity management as well as for disbursements and collections via e-money.

The ePeso Activity is a USAID Philippines program supporting the objectives of the US-Philippines Partnership for Growth focused on addressing binding constraints to achieve a sustained and inclusive economic growth.

ePeso is partnering with the Philippine government and the private sector to achieve a 20-fold increase in electronic payment (e-payment) usage.

It also supports the development of an economic infrastructure that will enable Filipinos to access new financial products and transform the country from cash-based to a digital economy through the development of an efficient, transparent and inclusive e-payment ecosystem.