Everything you’ve always wanted to know about Smart Money
February 18, 2007 | 12:00am
Just when we thought that every imaginable convenience has already been invented comes an improved version of something that we all use: money. That’s what Smart Money is all about: a money management product that takes the place of money. Call it an electronic card, a cash card, a debit card, an ATM card or a prepaid money card  it’s a hassle-free card that lets you manage money without actually handling…well, money.
But why do we need or would even want to displace cash? Imagine not having to carry cash wherever you go. No more risk of losing your entire salary in your wallet in case of a hold-up as you have full control of your cash in your card.
"Handling cash, even for merchants, is very expensive," says Ismael "Jun" Estela Jr., senior vice president for Banco de Oro’s Transaction Banking Group. "When they receive cash they have to count it, balance their books, deposit it to the bank, reconcile their accounts. It’s very tedious to handle money and with Smart Money, the problem with coins goes away."
All transactions with Smart Money are up to the last centavo. So no more cashier telling you that her change isn’t enough and would you mind getting a piece of candy instead?
BDO is the partner bank of Smart Communications for Smart Money, a product that, when it was first launched in 2000, received awards for being the most innovative product by MasterCard and the GSM Congress.
Today, over four million out of Smart’s 24 million subscribers use Smart Money.
Representatives from BDO and Smart explain just how smart people are getting over money matters.
Philippine STAR: How did the partnership between Smart and Banco de Oro start?
Banco de Oro (BDO): It came about with our purchase of the First eBank in March 2003. When we bought it, we also took the Smart Money business with it. We own the license for the MasterCard trademark for Smart Money and we are now the issuer of the Smart Money card.
How does it work?
BDO: Smart Money is like a prepaid card, a debit card. You don’t have to open an account with the bank to get a card. All you have to do is subscribe with Smart and the subscriber identification module is already included in the SIM. Then you just activate it and you can start using the functions like transfer funds here and overseas, make balance inquiry, pay your bills, do airtime reloads, withdraw from an ATM, use your card to purchase using point-of-sale terminals.
Can you use it everywhere MasterCard is accepted?
BDO: Yes, you can use it all over the world because it’s issued by MasterCard.
How do you get over many people’s mentality that they want a passbook, a printed proof that they do have money in the bank, so to speak.
BDO: Actually, the funds are secured with Banco de Oro. That’s the beauty of the model. The Smart Money card is being issued by BDO and we keep the funds of the cardholders. They can inquire anytime using an ATM or their cell phone. Every time they do a transaction, they are notified, like when they buy goods at SM, an SMS is sent to the subscriber.
Smart: For instance, you transfer money to another card, you get a text message showing the date of the transaction, the time, the amount, the destination card, your remaining balance, and the unique reference number, which is like an official receipt.
That’s like the approval number for a credit card transaction?
Smart: Yes, they will use this as the basis for all your inquiries.
Can you download a statement of account?
Smart: You can request a printed statement.
How do you load it with money?
Smart: It’s done through the wireless centers, BDO branches, and partner merchants like SM. You just hand over your money and the cashier will send you the electronic cash.
So if you load a million pesos, can you buy a car with your card?
BDO: There are transaction limits. Being a financial product, it’s governed by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) regulations. The limit is P50,000 at any one time.
Smart: If you want to load additional amount, you have to withdraw the cash, it cannot exceed P50,000.
What are the advantages of Smart Money over other debit cards?
BDO: The others, I suppose, are not connected to a phone. Smart Money is connected to a mobile phone, which makes it very convenient. Smart is present in all parts of the country. If you have a signal, you can actually do financial transactions 24/7. Even if you are lying in bed, even if you are in Boracay, you don’t even have to call a bank to pay your bills.
What are the advantages of Smart Money over the telco competition?
BDO: Others are purely mobile transactions. They don’t have a physical card connected to it. The main difference is that with Smart Money you can withdraw cash from an ATM, which is the most convenient way to get cash. We are connected to Expresslink and Mega Link. By the end of February we will be connected to Bancnet. You can even withdraw money abroad in their local currency against your peso account.
Apart from paying your utility bills, can you pay your credit cards with it?
BDO: Yes, you can.
But you don’t have a receipt. And to some people that’s important.
BDO: That’s where the reference number for every transaction comes in. If there is a dispute, you just indicate your reference number and that’s the basis for them to investigate.
What do people use Smart Money for?
BDO: For personal money transfers to their kids for their allowance. There are times when they need more money for certain projects in school. They say, "Dad, I need P500 to buy this and that." Instead of waiting for the father to come home, he can just transfer the money and then they withdraw it from an ATM or go directly to National Book Store to buy what they need.
So in that sense it’s better than giving your kids a supplementary card, because you can control the limit and add to it when needed.
BDO: Yes, and a lot more personal uses. Say, you’re a working mother and your maid tells you wala na tayong cooking oil or detergent. So instead of going to the supermarket yourself after work, you can just text the cash to the Smart Money card of the maid and she can buy it herself in the supermarket. It relieves you of having to do things like this yourself.
How easy is it to get started?
BDO: So easy. Just text a keyword to an access number, and then your Smart Money number will be automatically downloaded to your SIM. For you to use it, you have to go to a wireless center, fill out a form and present an ID. It’s part of the know-your-customer rule of BSP. If you want a physical card, you can wait for it if the wireless center has a card printer, or you can have it delivered to your house.
How many wireless centers does Smart have?
Smart: We have 120 plus wireless centers all over the country and 29 have printers and it’ll take them just five minutes to print your card. If they don’t have a printer, the card is sent to your address.
How do you send money to or from abroad?
Smart: The person there just has to know the Smart Money account number of the person in the Philippines. He will go to a partner agent there or a Smart Padala remittance company and they will do over-the-counter transaction. If you’re on roaming, you can just transfer it. We are in roughly 18 countries where there are a lot of OFWs like HongKong, Singapore, the US, and the Middle East.
Can money get lost, can it suddenly disappear at all?
BDO: We make sure all financial transactions are protected on both sides.
Smart: If you lose your card you can lock it using your cell phone. You will know right away if it’s been used because you get an instant notification message that you made a purchase or money was transferred.
What if you lose your cell phone?
Smart: You can use a landline to deactivate it. And you just apply for a new card.
What if the thief sees your past messages and gets to know your Smart Money account number?
Smart: All transactions, including balance inquiry, are PIN-protected.
How many people are using Smart Money?
Smart: Roughly four million active users. We have 24 million Smart subscribers.
What are the advantages of partnering up with a bank like BDO?
Smart: In terms of credibility and reach, why not BDO? It’s a great synergy between two of the best companies in the Philippines.
BDO: To put it in another perspective, I think the telcos need a bank for settlements because they cannot actually do the settlements for such a number of customers. Doing it through a partner bank makes sense for them. Also, they cannot issue MasterCard for Smart Money if they are not in partnership with a financial institution. The synergy between the bank and the malls provides the venue for Smart Money cardholders to use it. It makes it easier to make the use widespread.
Was it hard to introduce it to small retailers or did their having a cell phone make introducing it easier?
BDO: It’s very easy now because everybody has a cell phone.
Smart: All e-load transactions  balance inquiry, Smart Padala, Pasa Load, etc.  go through the Smart Money system. Imagine how many people are actually using the system at any given time. We have four million Smart Money subscribers and 800,000 retailers.
So, how smart is Smart Money?
BDO: It’s smarter than money itself!
But why do we need or would even want to displace cash? Imagine not having to carry cash wherever you go. No more risk of losing your entire salary in your wallet in case of a hold-up as you have full control of your cash in your card.
"Handling cash, even for merchants, is very expensive," says Ismael "Jun" Estela Jr., senior vice president for Banco de Oro’s Transaction Banking Group. "When they receive cash they have to count it, balance their books, deposit it to the bank, reconcile their accounts. It’s very tedious to handle money and with Smart Money, the problem with coins goes away."
All transactions with Smart Money are up to the last centavo. So no more cashier telling you that her change isn’t enough and would you mind getting a piece of candy instead?
BDO is the partner bank of Smart Communications for Smart Money, a product that, when it was first launched in 2000, received awards for being the most innovative product by MasterCard and the GSM Congress.
Today, over four million out of Smart’s 24 million subscribers use Smart Money.
Representatives from BDO and Smart explain just how smart people are getting over money matters.
Philippine STAR: How did the partnership between Smart and Banco de Oro start?
Banco de Oro (BDO): It came about with our purchase of the First eBank in March 2003. When we bought it, we also took the Smart Money business with it. We own the license for the MasterCard trademark for Smart Money and we are now the issuer of the Smart Money card.
How does it work?
BDO: Smart Money is like a prepaid card, a debit card. You don’t have to open an account with the bank to get a card. All you have to do is subscribe with Smart and the subscriber identification module is already included in the SIM. Then you just activate it and you can start using the functions like transfer funds here and overseas, make balance inquiry, pay your bills, do airtime reloads, withdraw from an ATM, use your card to purchase using point-of-sale terminals.
Can you use it everywhere MasterCard is accepted?
BDO: Yes, you can use it all over the world because it’s issued by MasterCard.
How do you get over many people’s mentality that they want a passbook, a printed proof that they do have money in the bank, so to speak.
BDO: Actually, the funds are secured with Banco de Oro. That’s the beauty of the model. The Smart Money card is being issued by BDO and we keep the funds of the cardholders. They can inquire anytime using an ATM or their cell phone. Every time they do a transaction, they are notified, like when they buy goods at SM, an SMS is sent to the subscriber.
Smart: For instance, you transfer money to another card, you get a text message showing the date of the transaction, the time, the amount, the destination card, your remaining balance, and the unique reference number, which is like an official receipt.
That’s like the approval number for a credit card transaction?
Smart: Yes, they will use this as the basis for all your inquiries.
Can you download a statement of account?
Smart: You can request a printed statement.
How do you load it with money?
Smart: It’s done through the wireless centers, BDO branches, and partner merchants like SM. You just hand over your money and the cashier will send you the electronic cash.
So if you load a million pesos, can you buy a car with your card?
BDO: There are transaction limits. Being a financial product, it’s governed by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) regulations. The limit is P50,000 at any one time.
Smart: If you want to load additional amount, you have to withdraw the cash, it cannot exceed P50,000.
What are the advantages of Smart Money over other debit cards?
BDO: The others, I suppose, are not connected to a phone. Smart Money is connected to a mobile phone, which makes it very convenient. Smart is present in all parts of the country. If you have a signal, you can actually do financial transactions 24/7. Even if you are lying in bed, even if you are in Boracay, you don’t even have to call a bank to pay your bills.
What are the advantages of Smart Money over the telco competition?
BDO: Others are purely mobile transactions. They don’t have a physical card connected to it. The main difference is that with Smart Money you can withdraw cash from an ATM, which is the most convenient way to get cash. We are connected to Expresslink and Mega Link. By the end of February we will be connected to Bancnet. You can even withdraw money abroad in their local currency against your peso account.
Apart from paying your utility bills, can you pay your credit cards with it?
BDO: Yes, you can.
But you don’t have a receipt. And to some people that’s important.
BDO: That’s where the reference number for every transaction comes in. If there is a dispute, you just indicate your reference number and that’s the basis for them to investigate.
What do people use Smart Money for?
BDO: For personal money transfers to their kids for their allowance. There are times when they need more money for certain projects in school. They say, "Dad, I need P500 to buy this and that." Instead of waiting for the father to come home, he can just transfer the money and then they withdraw it from an ATM or go directly to National Book Store to buy what they need.
So in that sense it’s better than giving your kids a supplementary card, because you can control the limit and add to it when needed.
BDO: Yes, and a lot more personal uses. Say, you’re a working mother and your maid tells you wala na tayong cooking oil or detergent. So instead of going to the supermarket yourself after work, you can just text the cash to the Smart Money card of the maid and she can buy it herself in the supermarket. It relieves you of having to do things like this yourself.
How easy is it to get started?
BDO: So easy. Just text a keyword to an access number, and then your Smart Money number will be automatically downloaded to your SIM. For you to use it, you have to go to a wireless center, fill out a form and present an ID. It’s part of the know-your-customer rule of BSP. If you want a physical card, you can wait for it if the wireless center has a card printer, or you can have it delivered to your house.
How many wireless centers does Smart have?
Smart: We have 120 plus wireless centers all over the country and 29 have printers and it’ll take them just five minutes to print your card. If they don’t have a printer, the card is sent to your address.
How do you send money to or from abroad?
Smart: The person there just has to know the Smart Money account number of the person in the Philippines. He will go to a partner agent there or a Smart Padala remittance company and they will do over-the-counter transaction. If you’re on roaming, you can just transfer it. We are in roughly 18 countries where there are a lot of OFWs like HongKong, Singapore, the US, and the Middle East.
Can money get lost, can it suddenly disappear at all?
BDO: We make sure all financial transactions are protected on both sides.
Smart: If you lose your card you can lock it using your cell phone. You will know right away if it’s been used because you get an instant notification message that you made a purchase or money was transferred.
What if you lose your cell phone?
Smart: You can use a landline to deactivate it. And you just apply for a new card.
What if the thief sees your past messages and gets to know your Smart Money account number?
Smart: All transactions, including balance inquiry, are PIN-protected.
How many people are using Smart Money?
Smart: Roughly four million active users. We have 24 million Smart subscribers.
What are the advantages of partnering up with a bank like BDO?
Smart: In terms of credibility and reach, why not BDO? It’s a great synergy between two of the best companies in the Philippines.
BDO: To put it in another perspective, I think the telcos need a bank for settlements because they cannot actually do the settlements for such a number of customers. Doing it through a partner bank makes sense for them. Also, they cannot issue MasterCard for Smart Money if they are not in partnership with a financial institution. The synergy between the bank and the malls provides the venue for Smart Money cardholders to use it. It makes it easier to make the use widespread.
Was it hard to introduce it to small retailers or did their having a cell phone make introducing it easier?
BDO: It’s very easy now because everybody has a cell phone.
Smart: All e-load transactions  balance inquiry, Smart Padala, Pasa Load, etc.  go through the Smart Money system. Imagine how many people are actually using the system at any given time. We have four million Smart Money subscribers and 800,000 retailers.
So, how smart is Smart Money?
BDO: It’s smarter than money itself!
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