Digital financial services PayMaya Philippines yesterday said it is the first e-wallet in the Philippines to officially adopt the national quick response (QR) code standard launched by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
With the QR Ph code, PayMaya users can now receive money transfers from other institutions such as UnionBank, Landbank of the Philippines, Chinabank, AUB and RCBC via the QR Ph code generated within the PayMaya app, represented by the QRPh logo in the middle of the code bearing the national colors of the Philippines.
To receive money from other banks and financial institutions, a PayMaya account holder can go to the settings section of the app and click on the QR code icon to reveal the unique QR Ph-compliant code. The sender can then scan this code via a participating bank’s mobile app to initiate the fund transfer.
QR Ph is available for person-to-person fund transfers upon launch but will soon be expanded for merchant QR payments.
“This is yet another milestone initiative that will help accelerate the adoption of digital payments across the country. We congratulate the BSP for spearheading the launch of the national QR code standard, QR Ph, as we reaffirm our commitment at PayMaya to fully support all efforts for wider cashless adoption and financial inclusion for all Filipinos,” said Orlando Vea, PayMaya founder and chief executive officer.
With QR Ph launched and for full implementation by June 2020, more Filipinos as well as micro and small enterprises are expected to go onboard the formal financial system as they can now easily do inter-operable electronic fund transfers and digital payments for their day-to-day transactions using their mobile phones.
The adoption of QR Ph is a collaboration between the BSP and the Philippines Payments Management Inc. (PPMI), the country’s Payment System Management Body under the National Retail Payment System regulatory framework. PayMaya is a member of PPMI.
Aside from integrating QR Ph to its app, PayMaya said it has also been working with government agencies including the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Social Security System, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Science and Technology, Philippine Statistics Authority, Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority, Professional Regulation Commission and the National Home Mortgage Finance Corp., as well as Valenzuela City, Quezon City and Manila City, among others, to integrate card and emerging digital payments acceptance within their respective online and branch office services.
“As we work with the government and the rest of the industry to push for QR Ph and enabling card and emerging digital payments acceptance for government agencies, more Filipinos will embrace the convenience, added value, and security of going cashless,” Vea said.
PayMaya is the financial technology arm of Voyager Innovations, a technology company backed by PLDT, KKR, Tencent, World Bank’s IFC and the IFC Emerging Asia Fund.
