
Is cash still king? Maybe, but not for long
GCash mobile wallet has taken the Philippines by the storm, offering convenience that is all more appreciated by the Filipinos during the Covid-19 pandemic. “We became a lifeline, to conduct money transfers and purchase essentials, and for merchants to accept payments safely and conveniently” said Martha Sazon, president of Mynt the mobile payments firm that owns GCash.
Philippine Central Bank reported that the use of e-payment has spiked more than 5000 percent since march last year. With strict lockdown and movement restrictions in place, most people have had to rely on online purchase for their needs. That usually means paying online using apps like GCash that are link to credit or debit cards and bank accounts.
The two largest electronic fund transfer services in the Philippines – InstaPay and PESONet run by banks, e-money issuers and mobile payment operators – have reported growth in transactions with a value exceeding one trillion pesos ($19 billion)
Central bank data shows that 20 percent of the country’s total payment has already being done digitally.
A report by the online security firm Kaspersky shows that the Philippines’ rate of migration to digital wallets has been at 37 percent, faster that the neighboring countries in the region.