MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Last June, London Tech Week continued to prove to be one of the biggest tech festivals in the world. The five-day event has been the ultimate gathering of rising stars, leaders, and investors in the tech industry and a space that fosters collaboration, discussions, and celebration of the newest innovations that can transform the digital space, drive development, and make the world better. And this year, the Philippines is represented at the prestigious event by GCash.
GCash, one of the leading fintech companies in the country, was the sole Philippine company present at the festival. The company was represented by GCash President and CEO Martha Sazon, who was part of the UK-APAC Partnership Fintech Panel.
“It’s a rare privilege to have been invited to an exclusive dialogue with the Prime Minister’s closest advisors at 10 Downing Street. We had a very inspiring discussion on ways to leverage tech here to drive development,” Martha said.
The panel brought about an insightful conversation about fintech and its growth in the region. In this discussion, Martha was able to impart important insights surrounding fintech opportunities and development in Southeast Asia, specifically the Philippines, and the role that GCash has played and continues to play in the industry.
Martha weighed in on the acceleration of fintech adoption in Southeast Asia, elaborating on the different opportunities in this space. She talked about how the region’s size and demographics, combined with the rising digital economy, continue to pave way for fintech’s growth and make expansion in the region a good idea. Additionally, she discussed how penetrating and enabling the underserved cohorts, such as rural areas and MSMEs, diversifying what fintech has to offer, and adopting new technologies in these ventures are three ways that fintech companies can make the most out of the opportunities in the region.
As part of the conversation surrounding how the adoption of new technologies may help expansion, Martha also covered how GCash continues to learn about the impact and application of Web3 and other new technologies and, in doing so, the company continues to prioritize any of new tech’s impact on digital identity and cyber security.
Another area discussed was the importance of ecosystem building. Martha talked about how partnering with a variety of fintech companies and adjacent players and being open to collaboration creates a path towards systemic change in the approach to financial access. In GCash’s case, she mentioned, enhancing fintech ecosystems is a big part of building on its userbase accessibility, which has become a key differentiator for the company.
Martha emphasized however that this collaboration should not just be among private players. Rather, because of the critical role of regulatory and government support in countries like the Philippines, fintech companies should also foster strong partnerships with the government and regulators just as GCash has been doing to make financial services and aid more accessible to everyone.
Customer trust was another important topic that Martha was sure to touch on, especially considering that this is something GCash considers its most valuable asset. She talked about how, at GCash, there is a continuing effort to address challenges around identity verification, fraud, and risk management to protect its users. GCash also acknowledges that no solution is foolproof and, therefore, knows that security improvement is a constant need.
Through Martha’s answers and insights at the panel, attendees and fellow panelists were able to learn more about the current state of fintech in the region and the Philippines, its future, and GCash’s significant role and place in both.
“We at GCash are humbled and honored to hear how impressed the UK officials are with what GCash has achieved,” Martha said. “Because of that, they believe in the opportunity the Philippines has to offer in the tech space.”
