PayMaya forges partnership with MoneyGram

Real-time fund transfer from US

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s remittance industry is getting a boost as Paymaya Philippines and MoneyGram International Inc. team up to enable real-time fund transfers through Visa Direct.

PayMaya and MoneyGram are introducing a new digital capability that allows customers to send money from the US to the Philippines through Visa’s real-time push-payment solution called Visa Direct.

MoneyGram is a global leader in cross-border P2P payments and money transfers.

With the new digital capability, consumers in the US can use the MoneyGram mobile app or website to send money that arrives almost instantly to any PayMaya Visa cardholder in the Philippines.

“We are glad to offer yet another convenient way for PayMaya account holders across the country to quickly and conveniently receive funds from their loved ones in the United States through our partnership with MoneyGram and Visa,” PayMaya president Shailesh Baidwan said.

“As cashless becomes the default for most, Filipinos can now experience safe and convenient ways to receive funds and transact even while at home through this service using their PayMaya app,” he said.

PayMaya, the digital financial services arm of PLDT’s Voyager Innovations, said the new service is a huge milestone for the country’s remittance industry, which is one of the largest markets globally.

The company said the approximately two million Filipinos living and working in the US would now be able to use MoneyGram to send money seamlessly and conveniently via Visa Direct either on MoneyGram’s website or mobile app, to any PayMaya account holder in the Philippines using their 16-digit Visa physical or virtual card number.

Once customers received the funds in their PayMaya accounts, they can easily use the funds to shop online or in-store using the same Visa card, or buy load, pay their bills, settle their government dues, and send money to other PayMaya users or Smart Padala centers nationwide, all within the PayMaya app.

Dan Wolbert, Visa country manager for the Philippines and Guam, said majority of Visa debit and prepaid cards in the country today are enabled to receive real-time payments via Visa Direct.

Citing data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Wolbert said overseas Filipino workers made a total of $11 billion for US-based remittances in 2019 and money transfers from the US contributed close to 40 percent of total remittances in the country.

“We are extremely pleased to work with PayMaya and MoneyGram to enable Visa cardholders in the Philippines the ability to receive funds seamlessly and securely from their family and loved ones in United States. In this digital age, we believe it is important to introduce solutions that can benefit our cardholders’ lives, including making cross-border remittances hassle-free and efficient,” Wolbert said.

“Our strong partnership with Visa Direct has been an important part of our strategy to accelerate digital growth over the last few years, and I’m excited about how this latest integration with PayMaya will further improve the customer experience and drive digital growth,” MoneyGram chief operating officer Kamila Chytil said.