MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Leading mobile wallet GCash continues to break barriers to bring financial inclusion to more Filipinos nationwide, racking up over 51 million users and 3,500 merchants as demand for digital solutions skyrocketed amid the pandemic.
GCash Chief Customer Officer Winsley Bangit cited the gap that the e-wallet service addresses, with many Filipinos remaining unbanked as they find it difficult to apply for traditional financial services.
“They find it intimidating to go to a physical bank; more so, they lack the documents in opening such accounts. It is for this reason that we made sure that these services are accessible and democratic through technology,” Bangit said at the recently held 51st National Marketing Conference organized by the Philippine Marketing Association.
GCash requires only one ID to open an account with no minimum deposit requirement. Opening an account is done digitally and takes only a few minutes. It can be completed anytime, anywhere.
On top of e-money and savings accounts, GCash offers insurance through GInsure for as low as P25 and investments through GInvest for as low as P100 for local funds and P1,000 for international funds. GInvest has gained 70 percent of the home market for total unit investment trust fund (UITF) accounts in just seven months since its launch.
“Part of our principle is to remove as many barriers as we could. But more than the barriers of inaccessibility, we need to also hurdle the lack of understanding,” Bangit added.
When it comes to innovative products and services, the challenge always is to educate, he said. Filipinos need to be made aware of the products and services that they must have to uplift their lives and secure their future.
Bangit also noted the presence of digital hesitancy as people worry about the security and safety of their hard-earned money in virtual platforms. By investing heavily in safety and security, GCash continues to gain the trust of millions of users who have shifted to digital channels amid strict mobility restrictions due to the pandemic.
“At the back of our highly-reliable world-class platform, which also has top-grade fraud and risk mitigation capabilities, we’re able to build trust from our customers. The trust snowballed from our existing users having good experiences, and spread through word of mouth about how helpful, convenient and impactful it is to individuals, communities, and businesses alike,” he said.
Bangit said GCash will continue to educate Filipinos about using its digital payments, transfers, and financing services, and build consumer trust to draw more users and help the country transition into a cash-lite economy.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has committed to shift 50 percent of total retail transactions to electronic channels and increase the number of Filipino adults with bank accounts to 70 percent by 2023 under its Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap.
With the global health crisis serving as a catalyst, preliminary data showed the share of digital payments to total retail channels increased to 30 percent in 2021 from 20.1 percent in 2020, while the number of Filipino adults with bank accounts hit 53 percent in the first quarter of 2021 from only 29 percent in 2019.
GCash is one with the Globe Group in strongly supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly UN SDG No. 9, highlighting the roles of infrastructure and innovation as crucial drivers of economic growth and development. It is committed to upholding the UN Global Compact principles and contributing to 10 UN SDGs.
To know more about GCash, visit https://www.gcash.com
