GCash adds new products to boost lending portfolio

Mobile wallet GCash is expanding its lending business as more Filipinos turn to digital financial transactions.

GCash, which is backed by Globe Telecom and Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, is rolling out new products that would increase loan limits and allow deferred payments for purchases.

The “Buy Now, Pay Later” service would be launched within the year, GCash said in a statement.

Moreover, the company is piloting GLoan, which allows qualified users to borrow up to P25,000 with repayments spread over 12 months.

GCash said the product had shown the “fastest growing revenue for its category.”

“As a driver of financial inclusion, our objective is clear, and that is to ease the friction being experienced by unbanked and underserved Filipinos,” Martha Sazon, president and chief executive of GCash, said in the statement.

GCash also offers credit, savings, insurance and investment products apart from money transfers.

Under GSave, the company has assets under management amounting to P9 billion versus P5 billion last year.

GInvest has helped GCash capture 70 percent of the domestic market of total Unit Investment Trust Fund accounts.

GInsure, meanwhile, now accounts for a third of all new insurance policies issued in the Philippines.

Moreover, in-house lending service GCredit disburses P1 billion in loans per month on average, with P15 billion released as of June this year.

Partnered with CIMB Bank, a neobank, GCredit works like a preapproved credit card to make QR and online purchases and bills payments, without traditional documentation requirements, and extends 30-day credit to GCash users.

“We have enjoyed massive growth in our financial services through innovative fintech solutions and strategic partnerships, regardless of licenses,” Sazon said.

“We also have the edge on experience and technology as we’ve been promoting financial services since we started. We have a very positive growth outlook in the years to come,” she added.

—Miguel R. Camus