In line with its vision of ‘Finance for All’, the Philippines’ leading mobile e-wallet, GCash, continues to expand to more public markets across the country — a show of strong support for the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) and the Department of Interior and Local Government’s (DILG) Paleng-QR Ph initiative, which aims to further boost financial inclusion in the country.
The initiative has recently piloted its national rollout in the Baguio City Public Market earlier in August this year.
Aside from Baguio, GCash has already enabled over 40,000 vendors in various public markets across the country including the Bacolod Public Market, Pasig Mega Market, Super Iloilo Terminal Market, and the Biñan Public Market. They join GCash’s other 5.2 million merchants and social sellers who are already part of the platform — making the e-wallet have the biggest digital ecosystem in the country.
“More than just providing Filipinos a safe and efficient alternative payment option, We at GCash also have another goal in mind and that is to teach Filipinos the importance of having their own financial accounts. The time for our vendors, small entrepreneurs, and trike drivers to adapt to this new business model, and the time for them to enjoy the benefits of e-wallets and contactless payment is now,” said GCash president and CEO Martha Sazon.
With Paleng-QR Ph, market vendors and their customers will be encouraged to transact through digital payment platforms such as GCash using QR Codes. With this, both vendors and consumers are assured a safer and more seamless shopping experience — ultimately promoting the growth of the digital ecosystem, especially in the grassroots economy.
“We are optimistic that the implementation and adoption of Paleng-QR Ph will result in more market vendors and community shops accepting digital payments. We will see that indeed it would be easier for an average Filipino consumer to transition to cashless transactions,” BSP deputy governor Bernadette Romulo Puyat said. “What the paleng-QR hopes to achieve is to foster inclusive digital finance in our communities by capitalizing on the QRPh initiative. Adoption of digital payments will also lessen the need for available change and lessens the risk of the circulation of fake bills.”