Canadian company introducing cashless card system in RP

Top executives of a Canadian financial information technology systems arrived in the country yesterday to launch an electronic banking system to enable rural folks to secure the remittances of their relatives working abroad.

A delegation from SkyMark Financial led by its chief executive officer Khalid Ataya arrived in the country to help out local chief executives from the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) establish a "cashless" banking system in the countryside.

Skymark Financial, owner of the Vancouver-based PayGen International and the international card association Cashless Card, will establish a base in the country for the immediate deployment of the Cashless Card payment system for its e-community project to be implemented in each of the country’s 1,502 municipalities.

Ataya and SkyMark executives are set to discuss the plans with his local partners ASECNet Inc. and launch their joint-venture partnership Cashless Card Philippines.

The Canadian firm had entered a memorandum of agreement with the LMP to assist local chief executives across the country to undertake the e-Community project.

Binalonan, Pangasinan Mayor Ramon Guico Jr., LMP president, explained the e-community project is a cost-effective end-to-end electronic solution for government, trade and commerce, banking and telecommunications.

He said the project will enhance the efficiency in the delivery of social and economic services in the various municipalities nationwide, regardless of its size and location.

The project will be implemented primarily by municipal governments and rural banks.

ASECNet president Florentino Roque said the project will literally connect the financial infrastructure of Filipinos working overseas and entrepreneurs whose remittances and investments prime the local economy.