Most Philippines banks are now geared toward microfinance and digital wallets to widen their reach among the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and the unbanked sector.
The Bank of the Philippine Islands representatives said the bank aims to provide microfinance services to mom-and-pop businesses like sari-sari stores. Other banks are also engaged in micro-lending. Many financial institutions are geared toward digital payments through mobile wallets Paymaya and GCash and have partnered with fintech companies to penetrate the largely untapped unbanked segment.
Not only banks, but government officials and private sector leaders also called for a shift to digital payments. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Gov. Benjamin Diokno presented the BSP’s Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap 2020-2023, which aims to strengthen customers’ preference for digital payments, and make more digital financial products and services available.
The first objective aims to convert 50% of the total volume of retail payments into digital form and expand the proportion of Filipinos with access to financial services to 70%.
The second objective aims to have more available innovative digital financial services that will enable the national ID system and the modernisation of payment systems.
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