GCash boosts bid to capture prepaid market

MANILA, Philippines — Globe Fintech Innovations Inc. (Mynt) aims to capture the country’s prepaid market with its mobile money service GCash.

Mynt said GCash is setting its sights on the prepaid market, which mostly comprises Filipinos that belong to classes C and D in the socio-economic bracket, as they are also usually the ones that are excluded from fully participating in the digital economy.

“We are tapping the prepaid market to bring them the financial tools that will help them with their financial needs at ease. Our value proposition for our customers is convenience on top of our best-in-class services backed by our strong partnerships with various stakeholders,” Mynt vice president for corporate communications Ney Villasenor said.

GCash has vowed to help Filipinos unlock the potential of the digital economy.

Mynt is urging the country's prepaid mobile subscribers to participate in the digital economy through its e-money platform, in line with its goal of bringing the benefits of financial technology to more Filipinos.

“Our vision is to promote financial inclusion across all sectors of the society. As we lead the movement for financial inclusion in the country, we believe that providing a telco agnostic platform will help more Filipinos participate in the digital economy,” Villasenor said.

Mynt said around 66 percent of Filipinos are still unbanked and 90 percent are still without a credit score.

However, around 72.6 million Filipinos owned a mobile phone as of last year and this is expected to further increase to 75.6 million in 2020.

The number presents a huge opportunity for GCash, as it leverages on its mobile-first technology to bridge the gap between the banked and unbanked.