Globe Telecom’s mobile wallet GCash has teamed up with Silicon Valley-backed payments facilitator PayMongo to provide an expanded mobile payments platform for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the country.
GCash is now live on the PayMongo site as a payment method for thousands of online sellers, the two companies said in a joint statement on Wednesday.
“PayMongo provides the easiest way for Filipino merchants to accept credit card, e-wallet and over-the-counter payments. PayMongo is backed by Silicon Valley’s Y Combinator, Peter Thiel and Stripe,” company chief executive officer Francis Plaza said.
The fintech start-up has 3,500 merchant accounts on its platform. It targets MSMEs, as well as online and social sellers that are looking for an enhanced experience of payments. Through PayMongo, customers can select GCash as a payment method and enjoy seamless payment when shopping online.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled to partner with GCash in enabling more commerce online. Our vision of building the financial infrastructure to grow the internet economy faster needs partners like GCash that provides every person an ability to participate and thrive in this digital age,” Plaza added.
GCash has 20 million users and more than 50,000 partner merchants and has been at the forefront of creating a cashless payment system in the Philippines.
“A strong cashless ecosystem will benefit MSMEs, who are the backbone of our economy. With PayMongo, GCash will help social and online entrepreneurs to optimize their businesses and grow in the internet economy,” said Anthony Thomas, GCash president and CEO.
“As GCash strives to reach the unbanked and underserved Filipinos, we will continue to build relationships with companies like PayMongo that use fintech to provide financial services to Filipinos,” Thomas said.
As of 2018, the Philippine Statistics Authority recorded over one million enterprises operating in the country, of which MSMEs accounted for 99.52 percent. These MSMEs, majority of which are located in Metro Manila, generated 63.19 percent of all jobs in the Philippines. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA