Home to some of the world’s most beautiful beaches and landscapes, The Fintech Times is in the beautiful Boracay island in the Philippines.
Home to over 7,000 islands, the Philippines is home to a famous one. Boracay, which until fairly recently was not known to much of the outside world, has become a popular tourist destination. Known for its white sands and natural beauty, the island attracts visitors from both the Philippines and across the world.
In fact, pre-pandemic, the island was actually closed in 2018 for rehabilitation due to its surging popularity.
Our economic development advisor of emerging economies Richie Santosdiaz takes us with him while he is on vacation in beautiful Boracay. Specifically, he shows us one of the country’s most popular fintech solutions, GCash, and how he is able to pay even while on the secluded island of Boracay.
To watch the video see below:
GCash is a mobile wallet app that allows its users to instantly pay bills, buy load, send money, shop, and more. One is able to register an account as long as they have an active Filipino number – even while they are overseas.
GCash is part of the portfolio companies of 917Ventures, the largest corporate incubator in the Philippines wholly owned by Globe Telecom, Inc. Besides GCash, other popular e-wallets in the country include PayMaya, SMART Money and Coins.ph.
Despite the country as a whole historically being very cash-based, the popularity of the likes of GCash and PayMaya have seen fintech play a strong role in Filipino society; this rise of digitalisation was accelerated during the pandemic, where the country had one of the world’s strictest lockdowns.
As the Philippines fairly recently opened its doors again to fully vaccinated international tourists, rest assured that even in secluded Boracay one will find fintech thriving for visitors and residents alike.
