Fintech venture to serve seafarers gets license from BSP

A financial technology platform targeting seafarers is set to launch in early 2020.

MarCoPay, a venture between the Delgado family’s Transnational Diversified Group (TDG) and Japanese shipping firm NYK Line, said in a statement that it had obtained a license from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to operate as an electronic money issuer.

MarCoPay uses QR code technology for preboarding, salary disbursements, on-board purchases and money transfers, allowing users to do away with most cash-based transactions.

The proponents see big potential in the industry—a major employer of Filipinos abroad. There are an estimated 1.6 million seafarers in the world and 220,000 of them are Filipinos.

“This is not just an accomplishment for us, but also for the hundreds of thousands of seafarers in the world who are braving the seas to give their loved ones a better life,” MarCoPay COO Areson Cuevas said in a statement.

MarCoPay also touted the safety benefits of the platform as they aim to tap an estimated cash hoard of $800 million lying inside ships around the world at any given time.

“With MarCoPay helping vessel masters manage their money digitally, it will be much easier and safer for seafarers and vessel masters to handle their hard-earned salaries,” MarCoPay president and CEO Toshiaki Fujioka said in the same statement.

TDG’s ties with NYK go back to 1976. The company provides seafarer recruiting services for the international shipping line that has been running since 1885.

The seafarers are servicing a fleet of about 710 ships internationally, including container ships, tankers, bulk and wood chip carriers, Ro-Ro (roll-on, roll-off) car carriers, reefer vessels, LNG carriers and cruise ships, TDG added.TDG was started by J. Roberto Delgado and the late Kiyoshi Osawa in 1976. Its businesses span information and communications technology, logistics and ship management.