Visa: Making Filipino lives more convenient through digital currency

MANILA, Philippines - All over the world, organizations strive for economic empowerment and business efficiency —two goals that are difficult to achieve, but that have become more attainable with the evolution of technology and the strength of continuous innovation.

Originally created in the late 1950’s to make shopping more convenient, Visa has since evolved to something far bigger. As the world leader in electronic payments, Visa has been transforming the way the world pays for the past 50 years, bringing businesses closer together and providing economic empowerment to more people. In fact, the changes that digital currencies like Visa have brought to the lives of people are so compelling that we like to think of ourselves as the “currency of progress.”

In the past decade, uses for digital currency have exploded; the best example of this is the evolution of Internet technology, which continues to become more ubiquitous by the day as our main channel to communicate to each other through. People all over the world, including the unbanked, are embracing the benefits of the Internet and therefore naturally as we “live our lives” in the cyber world, we need to be able to transact online. As cash and checks really can’t be used in this new world, Visa has been well placed to take advantage of this secular move to the online environment.

As well as innovating in the online world, Visa has evolved to widen its network in the physical world and the benefit of using Visa is realized by more key stakeholders. In New York, people taking a cab ride can pay for their fare by Visa card, to the benefit of both drivers and their customers. Drivers feel safer not having to carry so much cash with them, and customers enjoy the convenience of paying with a swipe of their card as opposed to wasting precious time fumbling for change. Digital currency is also changing the way governments interact with their citizens. In Pakistan for example, government agencies used Visa Prepaid cards as a secure and efficient channel to disburse emergency funds to its citizens after a natural disaster.

Closer to home in the Asia Pacific region, more and more people are taking advantage of the convenience and security of using payment cards. For the 12 months ended 31 March 2010, Visa’s total volume generated on all Visa cards across Asia Pacific reached more than $1 trillion, an increase of 13.2 percent over the same period last year. The number of payment transactions rose to 9.8 billion, up from 8.6 billion 12 months ago, as the trend of consumers moving from using cash and checks to electronic forms of payment continues despite a global economic slowdown not seen since the 1930’s.

Here in the Philippines, Visa’s payment solutions and services are now in use in more areas across the archipelago than ever before. Gone are the days when Filipino consumers only had one product choice when it came to using a Visa card. Now in addition to the traditional Visa Credit card, many Visa issuing banks here in the Philippines offer a comprehensive suite of Visa products and services including Visa Debit and Visa Prepaid cards, offering consumers choice in managing their payments.

One of the fastest growing Visa products in the Philippines is the Visa Debit card which allows cardholders to ‘buy now, pay now’ for their everyday purchases. As this card is linked to a standard bank account it gives cardholders access to their own money where and how they choose. Since cardholders can only spend what they have, it has helped many Filipinos keep their spending within budget. Visa Debit has also allowed another set of customers who may prefer not to use a credit line or may be unable to obtain one, enjoy the benefits of owning a Visa card without calling on a credit line.

Many Filipinos are also engaging in online purchasing across geographies because of the convenience of accessing the money they currently have in their bank accounts through their Visa Debit.

Visa Prepaid cards are also set to become more popular in the coming years. Every Filipino knows how a prepaid mobile phone works, and the Visa Prepaid product follows the same logic – you set your own spending limits by loading a pre-determined value onto your Visa Prepaid card and still enjoy the convenience and security of using a digital currency that accepted at millions of merchants around the world. The applications for this product are endless – gift cards, pocket money cards, travel cards to replace travelers checks and even payroll cards.

Aside from the payment cards, our money transfer service that would enable millions of overseas Filipinos to send funds to their loved ones’ Visa cards in the Philippines almost instantaneously — a fast, secure and extremely cost-efficient innovation that can only come from a market leader that understands its users’ needs. With the strong presence of overseas Filipino workers, Visa is committed to offering a product which will make it easier for them to send money wherever they are in the world.

Visa’s digital currency will definitely continue to play a bigger role in the lives of the Filipino people in the years and decades to come. Visa is committed to ensuring that the world understands what the “Currency of Progress” can do for them and a key component of this initiative is the provision of a financial literacy campaign to educate Visa cardholders on the basics of money management. For more than a decade, Visa has been developing financial literacy educational programs to help educate individuals on how to spend more wisely. Visa believes that imparting knowledge about achieving financial wellness helps support economic empowerment.

Today, Visa’s global financial literacy initiatives are being implemented across more than 20 countries and customized based on an area’s level of economic development, cultural standards, educational needs, government priorities and target audiences. Third-party partners — such as the media, governments, schools, banks and non-governmental organizations — are actively engaged to improve the reach, awareness and impact of this program.

In the Philippines, a dynamic marketplace that is receptive to new technologies, Visa’s goal this year is to reach Filipino students and young professionals with the Visa Financial Literacy campaign. This is in recognition of the important role of the next generation of Filipinos in the country’s economic development and the need to provide them with the right financial management tools.

To reach out to this segment, Visa has launched a personal financial management campaign locally. Financial literacy articles were published to provide young adults a very clear grasp of the basics of money management to allow them to live well today and build a strong financial future. The articles ranged from saving to spending and budgeting to understanding payment cards and understanding credit—which are all crucial to financial literacy. Links to useful money management tools for forecasting and assessing such as calculators and practical money skills modules were also included. These tools can help one plan retirement or for major expenses such as holidays or the arrival of a new baby. To reflect the growing importance of the internet on Filipino society today, especially youth, this campaign was solely run online.

Moving forward, there is still a wide opportunity to grow the electronic payments infrastructure in the Philippines to encourage financial inclusions and to bring the convenience and benefits of Visa digital currency to more Filipinos. There is room for digital currency to take root more deeply in the Philippines, and Visa looks forward to being the currency of progress to transform the lives of more Filipinos in the years to come.

Check out more details about Currency of Progress at www.currencyofprogress.com.