Three years ago, who would have thought that you can pay your bills, make bank deposits, buy load, and send money using your mobile phone? With GCash, pwede pala! Gone are the days when you have to get out of your home or sneak out of work during breaks just to make a last-minute bill payment at the bank or at a payment center. Filipinos nowadays are looking for convenience, efficiency, and availability.
“We are trying to solve the problem of access to basic payments and financial services for Filipinos. Nearly 7 out of 10 do not have access to a bank account, 34% of municipalities do not have a physical bank branch, 90% of the population does not have formal credit. This is what we want to work on and hopefully make a positive impact,” said Anthony Thomas, Mynt President and CEO. He believes that there are still a lot to be done in the Fintech space in the Philippines even as he expressed optimism that by disrupting traditional channels through digital financial technology services, Mynt would be able to provide financial access for more consumers and merchants, and organizations.
The Mynt Story
It was not too long ago in an 8-seater storage room, inside the then newly constructed Globe Tower in Bonifacio Global City, that the concept of enabling the aspirations of the financially underserved was conceived. Most Filipinos do not have access to various financial services: Nearly 7 out of 10 Filipinos do not have access to bank accounts, about 95% have no credit cards, and about 40% do not have access to physical banks. These make life more challenging for your average Juan dela Cruz, whose daily wage just hover around P500.00, to have spare cash to access better financial services, as opening up even the most basic credit card line costs a hefty P10,000.00, not to mention all the time one will consume to get it. However, the market is ripe for digital disruption because of a high mobile penetration and a thriving young population.
Inside that very storage room were a handful of willed employees proposing a solution to address financial inclusion in the Philippines. Thus, Mynt was born. Mynt was a company established in 2015 as a strategic partnership between Globe Telecom and the Ayala Corporation for the realization of a cashless nation leading to finance for all. Later in 2016, the Chinese mobile wallet giant Ant Financial (Alipay) came onboard, strengthening Mynt ‘s positioning in the country as it operates GCash and Fuse Lending, Inc.
Mynt provides innovative and relevant fintech solutions to consumers, merchants, and organizations. Its vision is to enable financial access for consumers and merchants by disrupting traditional channels through digital financial technology services. They are able to put forth these solutions by actively listening to customer feedback and leveraging on the technological expertise and knowhow brought by Globe and Alipay.
Mynt operates two other companies: GCash, the leading mobile wallet in the Philippines, and Fuse, a microlending company that extends small loans to Filipinos for as small as P1,000 via GCash through GCredit. These services are readily available to any Filipino that has a bar phone or smartphone that will register to the service.
The GCash App
The GCash App is the country’s leading mobile wallet, growing exponentially to 15 million registered users nationwide in just three years. It has been awarded the Best Mobile Payment App of the Year in 2017 by The Asian Banker, and the Best Mobile Payment Service Award by the Telecom Asia Awards in 2018. It’s also the leading finance app in the Google Play Store since 2015.
Originally a platform where a customer can buy prepaid airtime credits, send money to other GCash users, and pay bills without going to a payment center, the GCash App have rapidly developed to become a lifestyle app. It now has the ability to – on top of being able to scan to pay using GCash QR – book movies at partner cinemas, pay directly on Lazada, pay using credit (via GCredit), invest in money market funds, and even lets Alipay users in Hong Kong directly send money to GCash users in the Philippines.
As a new feature, the GCash App can also send money directly to 30+ partner banks, including BPI, BDO, RCBC, Unionbank, and Metrobank, to name a few, free for a limited time only.
Anyone can download the GCash App and register for a GCash account. With its multiple features, customers are realizing that they can solve their pain points through the app. Bong Yusingco, a worker from Quezon City, was previously receiving his son’s remittances from a brick-and-mortar remittance center, but is now using GCash exclusively.
“Pinadalhan ako ng pera ng anak ko pambili ng gamot, dahil sa GCash walang bayad magpadala. No hidden charges, di nabawasan ang pera ko,” he said.
Justine Concepcion, an employee in Taguig, also utilizes the GCash App for other uses aside from money withdrawals. “Any payment has been easy since I used GCash. I can pay my bills and enjoy my shopping without bringing my wallet! Not only that, I can withdraw money using my GCash Mastercard without getting charged,” he said.
Customers without the GCash App can also register by dialing *143# on their bar phones then looking for GCash, or by opening their Messenger App and searching for @gcashofficial.
Mynt takes the next big step in financial inclusion by making hassle-free loans available to every Filipino through its lending arm, Fuse, which primarily caters to the underserved and unbanked population in the country.
Fuse offers GCredit and GScore for lending and credit scoring, respectively. GCredit is a credit line attached to one’s GCash account with funds they can then use to buy groceries, medicine, or even school supplies in partner merchants via GCash scan to pay. The amount they can avail of is determined by GScore, the first trust score in the Philippines which checks the financial capacity of an individual to pay back a credit based on their GCash usage. GCash is a mobile money service of Mynt.
“We are committed to enable the aspirations of the financially-underserved. With Fuse, we aim to create and sustain opportunities for growth and stability for individuals and businesses alike through responsible and fintech-enabled lending,” said Anthony Thomas, president and chief executive officer of Mynt.
Fuse believes that with data-driven lending, they can create a sustainable and scalable credit product in the country.
GScore, Thomas said, addresses the difficulty of most Filipinos to access credit due to absence of formal documents that prove financial capacity. Instead, GScore provides a “trust score” that people can earn without too much barrier just by engaging in regular GCash transactions such as buying load, paying bills, purchasing goods and services, among other things.
At present, many Filipinos have no other recourse but to turn to informal or unlicensed money lenders usually called “five-six” since they extend loans without collateral or documentary requirements. In exchange, they charge the borrowers exorbitant interest rates of 20 percent or higher, thereby, leading to a debt trap where people find it hard to break out of a borrowing cycle just to stay afloat.
This situation could be avoided through GCredit. With GCredit, once a customer pays their credit balance, it replenishes instantly. This provides customers peace of mind so they can have access to funds whenever they have emergencies or life milestones. As added benefit, those who continue to use and pay their GCredit properly will be given higher GCredit limits.
GCash and MSMEs
The Micro, Small and Medium enterprises (MSMEs) sector comprises 99.6% of all registered business in the Philippines, and employs more than 60% of the country’s workforce. Many of these MSMEs in the country are paying their employees’ salaries through check and is subject to cutoffs of banks for payroll disbursement. Most of them find it hard to comply with existing requirements for bank accounts and the requirement for individual documents. GCash is supporting the MSME Sector through its PowerPay+. It is a bundled funds disbursement facility that allows you to payout salaries, allowances, and commissions more conveniently and securely. GCash PowerPay+ will give MSMEs an access to an easy-to-use online portal for their quick disbursement needs. In fact, 200 microenterprises are currently with PowerPay+. GCash will continue to reach out to more MSMEs in the country come 2019.
For more information visit gcashbiz.com and e-mail [email protected] for any inquiries on how to become a PowerPay+ MSME partner.
Mynt in 2019
So what’s next for the company? For one, the drive to financial inclusion will continue with more ecosystem building nationwide, coupled with more GCash merchants, more locations to put funds into your GCash account, and more features inside the GCash App.
“The biggest competition of GCash is cash itself. Cash is still king in the Philippines currently,” said Thomas, regarding the company’s future steps. “We’re looking forward to a cashless nation in the next three to five years, and we aim to do it by improving our services better together with our partners from the Ayala Corporation, Globe Telecom, and Ant Financial, and educating Filipinos on how they can be financially included just by using the GCash App,” he added.
Mynt, GCash, and Fuse have been leading innovations in the digital payments industry for the past three years. Among the company’s other accomplishments was being the first to utilize blockchain technology on sending money internationally.
If you want to be a GCash Partner Merchant, send an email to [email protected]. For more information about Mynt, GCash, and Fuse, send an email to [email protected].