Tags: Banking, Consumer Goods and Concerns, Internet
By Alexander Villafania
MAKATI CITY, METRO MANILA – MoneySwap, a digital banking and payment solutions provider, is targeting “unbanked” Filipinos with its multi-purpose prepaid card.
The goal is to provide users a card-based banking system similar to an automated teller machine (ATM) and a credit card that could be used for a number of financial transactions. These include paying bills, remittances, fund transfer, “cashless” shopping, among others.
As a prepaid card, the MoneySwap card can be “topped up” to work like a debit card. However, it can also work with merchants that use Visa credit card payment methods.
MoneySwap, which has offices in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, and mainland China, recently forged a partnership with local retail bank Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) for use of its banking infrastructure and to deploy the MoneySwap cards.
MoneySwap cardholders will be able to also transact with at least 70 Visa-powered merchants who are currently partnered with RCBC. In addition, currencies from other countries can be sent to MoneySwap cardholders in the Philippines and be converted into the desired currency, based on the exchange rates of RCBC.
According to MoneySwap Managing Director Seng S.H. Rhee, the majority of working Filipinos still do not own bank accounts or credit cards. With the growth of digital payment exchanges, the “unbanked” markets would be able to transact faster through a variety of means, be it using ATMs or online.
Rhee said that many Filipinos are still using traditional methods of paying for their bills and grocery purchases, which require them to carry around wads of money. A prepaid-based card would relieve the problems of carrying cash while also allowing users to experience the convenience of being able to transact with just one card.
But aside from Filipino users, Rhee noted on the potential of MoneySwap for merchants in the Philippines targeting foreigners, especially tourists. In 2010, at least $1 billion (approximately P43 billion) transactions were made in the Philippines. About half of this was through online and another 15 percent of the total was from overseas.
A notable fact is that many of the Visa-based payments were from foreigners, such as Americans, Koreans, British, Australians and Japanese. Some of them paid for airfare and hotel bookings as well as purchases made in some Visa-using merchants.
“The more you make it easier for foreigners to transact in the Philippines, the more opportunities you would have to bring in foreign currencies,” Rhee said.
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