Jack Ma keen on pushing e-commerce in Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — Chinese business tycoon and Alibaba founder Jack Ma is keen on assisting the Philippine government in ensuring an “enabling” regulatory environment for e-commerce in the country, according to the Department of Finance.

In a statement, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said the DOF and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) are set to meet Ma in China next year to discuss more extensively ways to develop a good financial regulatory environment that would spur the growth of e-commerce in the Philippines and empower micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

“We are planning to visit him.  He invited us to have further discussions in China. We will visit him probably in January with central bank (officials). We’ll review the regulatory environment here so that we don’t have regulations that choke the growth of e-commerce,” Dominguez said.

Ma, during a recent meeting with Philippine officials, said he wants to assist in developing a digital market in the Philippines in order to create a “cashless” society and connect the country’s e-commerce platform to other markets, such as China, Europe and others countries.

Ma also informed Dominguez that he intends to invest in the Philippines in the next five years, most likely in the service industry.

“The Philippines has the best service and has the heart to become a key player in the industry,” Ma said.

Dominguez said Ma also informed him about his “3-1-0” initiative. Under the scheme, start-ups and budding entrepreneurs in China can borrow up to $5,000 online in a matter of minutes  — three minutes to process the loan, one minute to transfer the money to the borrower’s bank account, all done with zero human contact.

The finance chief said such innovations, along with measures to build a strong logistics backbone, are now being studied by the DOF to prepare MSMEs for a shift to e-commerce.

In December 2015, the BSP and industry stakeholders jointly launched the National Retail Payment System to create a safe, efficient and reliable electronic retail payment system in the country.

“We must look at our (financial) regulations and ensure that it will not stymie the growth of our MSMEs,” Dominguez said.