- The Southeast Asian nation should take advantage of digital payments, a seasoned banker says
- Philippine e-commerce is poised for growth
- Wirecard AG acquired two major Citibank card businesses
The head of a European fintech for Philippine operations says that the Philippines is ripe for a digital transformation. Martha Aguila-Borja, a seasoned banker who was appointed country manager for Wirecard, says that local merchants should take advantage of such developments to facilitate payments.
A company known for its transparent and secure platform, German-owned Wirecard AG makes payment processing a lot easier for consumers and merchants.
Wirecard’s entry into the Philippines comes at a time when citizens in the Southeast Asian nation are starting to embrace online shopping. In fact, Philippine e-commerce has recently gone mainstream and is reportedly poised for growth.
With a huge smartphone penetration in the country, the Philippines is said to be fertile ground for fintech innovation. Observers note that fintechs will find a good market in the country since a number of Filipinos are still unbanked.
This is despite the fact that overseas Filipino workers transfer money internationally on a regular basis. Based on recent numbers, Filipinos living and working abroad send an estimated $25 billion in remittances per year, with the average Filipino migrant sending around $500 a month to family and friends.
While bank transfers from abroad are possible, Filipinos are concerned about the expensive overseas transfer rates of traditional banks.
According to the Manila Standard, one of the national dailies in the country, the Philippines faces roadblocks in digital payments as 99% of all transactions are settled in cash. Aguila-Borja says that Wirecard AG wants to make a difference on this front.
“Wirecard, as a global innovation leader in payment solutions and acceptance, will play a key role in enabling BSP’s [Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas] National Strategy for Financial Inclusion. We are one with BSP’s thrust to grow digital transactions from 1% to 20% by 2020 and it is Wirecard’s commitment to help our partners flourish in this age of digital transformation”, she adds.
Aguila-Borja has worked for Citibank, ABN-AMRO, and Bank of America in the past 20 years before finally joining the German fintech. According to the banker, Wirecard entered the country in 2017 under the name Wirecard e-Money Philippines, Inc. and was founded after two major acquisitions. Wirecard acquired Citibank’s Prepaid Card Services in March 2017 and a second deal went through in the same year for Citigroup’s prepaid card.
“This has enabled Wirecard to provide merchants and businesses in the Philippines with payments, issuing and acceptance services”, Aguila-Borja says. “This has accelerated Wirecard’s direction towards establishing a worldwide network of service and technology locations while enabling our regional partners to benefit from our established technology and experience”, she adds.
There is no mention whether Wirecard will be processing peer-to-peer payments but it does have the capability to receive and send cross-border payments.
Find out more about the fintech industry here.
