GCash CEO says collaboration, not competition, is key to exponential growth and financial inclusion

As digital payments rapidly become a staple for many Filipinos, GCash, the leading mobile wallet in the Philippines and the country’s first ever double unicorn has achieved yet another milestone as it grows its number of registered users to 66 million as of June 2022. This was one of the key highlights shared by the GCash president and CEO Martha Sazon during the recent Mobile 360 Asia Pacific FinTech Summit held at JW Marriott South Beach in Singapore.

During the summit, Martha shared how collaborations with banks and other fintech providers have helped GCash maintain a strong growth momentum amid the pandemic which has enabled it to add six million users from the first quarter to 66 million at the end of the second quarter of 2022

“We’re not a digital bank. We are an e-wallet. But what’s good about that is we’re able to partner with any bank and any financial institution. This is a conscious thought that we make because we know that financial inclusion is a complex, difficult journey. So, we choose to collaborate rather than compete,” Sazon said.

With this in mind, GCash has partnered with the most innovative and the biggest financial institutions -- such as BPI, ATRAM and CIMB, as well as various government agencies, insurance, and fintech companies -- to address the population’s need for more accessible financial services. GCash also teamed up with Ant Group Financial, allowing the app to access global and best-in-class platforms and capabilities and enabling GCash to scale up rapidly and ensure user security.

Driven by its goal to deliver fast, safe, and convenient digital products and services to the masses, most especially the millions of unbanked Filipinos at the height of the pandemic, GCash became a key partner of the government for the Department of Social Welfare’s Social Amelioration Program (SAP) which was disbursed via the GCash app with over P16 billion received by more than 2 million recipients. Moreover, GCash also empowers micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) by partnering with different insurance providers to offer convenient digital business solutions such as business insurance products. More similar services will soon be launched on the GCash app.

As financial inclusion is the core of its business, Sazon also said that GCash continuously democratizes financial services by adding strategic collaborators to help innovate its game-changing products such as Send Money, Pay Bills, Cash-in, Cash-out, GInsure, GLoan, GInvest, GGives, GCredit. This has enabled them to deliver solutions that meet every Filipino’s needs and demands.

“The people that we need to include are the masses. We are talking about riders, tricycle drivers, sari-sari stores, and even market store vendors. This is very important because these are the very people who comprise our MSME industry,” Sazon shared.

For more information, visit www.gcash.com.ph