By John Reczon Calay
To drive the adoption of cashless payments in the Philippines, digital wallet and mobile payments app Coins.ph and contactless payment provider beep card have launched the newest feature in the Coins.ph app that allows commuters to reload their beep cards using the NFC option in their Android smartphones.
The new function enables commuters to easily and quickly top up their beep card using the funds from their Coins.ph digital wallet. This is done by tapping their beep card at the back of their smartphone, as the NFC function is turned on. Users can load as low as P10 on their beep card, free of extra charges.
“Coins.ph provides beep cardholders the ability to load their cards anytime, anywhere just by tapping their card on their smartphone. This added convenience means no more falling in line to add load during the busy rush hour,” said resident and CEO of AF Payments Peter Maher.
Coins.ph is beep card’s first app-based reloading partner. It is licensed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas as an electronic money issuer and remittance and transfer company. Having already had four million customers, Coins.ph allows unbanked and underbanked individuals to store their money virtually in the app which they can use to send money, pay bills, reload, and make payments across the Philippines directly from their phone.
Beep card has more than four million cardholders to date ? providing an “opportunity” to enterprising individuals who would like to earn additional income by providing loading services to users, the company said.
Before moving on to retail and lifestyle, the beep card technology has modernized payment systems in the Philippine transportation sector in greater Manila. It is accepted in all three light railways (LRT 1, LRT 2, and MRT 3), select bus lines, Cavitex and NLEX, and in select FamilyMart, Robinsons Movieworld, and Wendy’s branches. The card is reloadable and valid for four years upon purchase.
“Each day, nearly two million Filipinos are forced to wait in long lines to top up their beep cards with cash,” Coins.ph CEO Ron Hose said. “With this collaboration, beep cardholders can seamlessly use Coins.ph to load their cards with their phones and make payments anywhere beep is accepted.”
“This solution represents a catalytic step forward in a vision that we share with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas of forging an advanced digital economy by 2020,” Hose added.
Coins.ph is available for download in the Google Play Store. Users must register first before using the mobile wallet. It can be funded in over 33,000 locations nationwide.
