Tuesday, March 19, 2024

E-money accounts eclipsing credit card penetration, BSP report shows

The latest Financial Inclusion dashboard released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported that e-money accounts rose by 22% to 33 million in 2018. Broken down, it is composed of five million active e-wallets and 28 million prepaid cards linked to e-money.

An employee of Unilab pays for his lunch meal via PayMaya QR in their cashless canteen

This means e-money account penetration has surpassed that of the credit card with 31 e-wallet accounts for every 100 Filipinos, as of the fourth quarter of 2018. Meanwhile, there are just nine credit cards per 100 individuals. 

In a 2019 Consumer Brand study conducted by PayMaya Philippines, it was revealed that the top three reasons why respondents turn to e-wallets like PayMaya is because of the convenience to open an account (60%), no fees (54%), and easy Add Money features (36%).

Such features are answers to the top barriers cited by the respondents of the BSP’s latest survey for not owning a formal account: not having enough funds to start an account (60%) and lack documentary requirements (18%).  

“Digital payments adoption is fast growing and PayMaya can attest to the Filipino consumers’ shift to electronic money as their top payment method,” said Kenneth Palacios, director and head of consumer business at PayMaya. 

“PayMaya simply offers the most convenient way to open an account. You can have an account either by downloading the PayMaya app from the App store or Google Play Store or through Messenger. We do not require any maintaining balance. You can control your finances with PayMaya because the amount that you place in the account is the only money you can spend, no more, no less,” said Palacios. 

Moreover, Palacios said a PayMaya account allows accountholders to pay bills, shop in-store and online, buy telco load, and buy gaming pins, among others.

Palacios also noted that consumers today pay using their e-wallets not only for their online purchases, but also for goods and services bought in-store with groceries and quick-service restaurants topping the list.  

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