GCash services to be available in 10 more countries

MANILA, Philippines  —Homegrown e-wallet GCash continues with its global expansion after receiving the regulatory approval to make its services available in 10 more countries, making money transfers in and out of the Philippines easier for its users.

In a statement on Friday, the Ayala-led company said the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) gave it the go signal to operate in the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Spain and Germany.

At present, its services are already available in the United States, Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom, Australia and Japan.

“With around 13 million Filipinos living abroad, we recognize and answer the need for them to be present for their families back home and remain in control of helping build the financial future of their loved ones,” said Oscar Reyes Jr., president and CEO of GCash operator G-Xchange Inc.

READ: Philippine e-wallet now available in UK, Canada

To sign up, those living abroad can use their international mobile numbers. A Philippine passport or other Philippine valid ID can be submitted as proof of identity.

The fully verified accounts will allow them to send money for free via the app. Users can also pay bills and buy load credits, among others.

GCash is also available as a payment platform in select merchants in several countries, including Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macau, Qatar, UAE, US, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and UK.

Partnership with Visa

The e-wallet also has a partnership with international payment gateway Visa, enabling its users to pay for services of over 100 million merchants across 200 countries and territories.

The financial technology player is currently gearing up for a potential stock market debut, which was initially targeted to be conducted by the second half of this year. Based on recent pronouncements, however, GCash officials said they would have to study the market and general economic conditions first before committing to do so.The e-wallet service provider has disbursed P118 billion worth of loans to 3.9 million borrowers via its suite of financing products.

These include Sakto Loans, which allows users to borrow as low as P100 up to P1,000. The small loan product serves as an alternative to informal and sometimes predatory lending.

It has also sold 16.3 million insurance policies to date. Recently, GCash fully launched an insurance policy to protect its users’ fund transfers and payments from potential scams. INQ