The chief of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) recently expressed the belief that the country’s swift adoption of e-wallets has been a game-changer for financial inclusion in the Philippines.
“We have found something vastly superior to what we were doing before the pandemic, and we’re not returning. But there is still room for improvement,” says BSP Governor Felipe Medalla, who himself has been pushing for the wider adoption of online and electronic payments in the country in place of cash.
IMAGE CREDIT: theindependentinvestor.ph
He also mentioned how, sometimes, he finds it hard to pay via e-wallet at the mall as he still had to input the amount on his phone. He believes that merchants should have a system where the amount to be paid is automatically inputted, noting how some businesses are already doing that.
Generally, digital payment is more convenient as one does not need to carry cash. However, Medalla said that fintech companies should also exert efforts to make paying via e-wallets a lot easier.
“The past two times I did it, (paying in) cash was faster,” said Medalla after making his keynote speech at this year’s edition of the Inclusion and Digital Transformation (INDX) Summit 2.0 organized by the Fintech Alliance.PH, the country’s leading and largest association of fintech and digital players, in cooperation with Enderun Extension and Enderun Colleges.
For his part, Lito Villanueva, chairman of Fintech Alliance.PH, said he is happy that the BSP chief himself is using some of the digital payments services. He also agreed that fintech systems should be improved.
“What he said is a good example of how we can further improve customer experience. At the end of the day, it all boils down to having a delightful customer experience,” Villanueva said. While admitting that there are still a lot of challenges that need to be addressed like Internet connection, trust issues among the older folks and cyber attacks, he says that the alliance still expects the sector to grow even further.
“This initiative by Fintech Alliance is meant to gather all stakeholders that include the government, the private sector, and the consumers themselves. We should be able to come up with ways how to further accelerate digital adoption by way of promoting inclusive digital finance through shared prosperity,” said Villanueva. “Education is key to accelerating the digital economy.”
High demand for e-wallets to quicken pace for an e-commerce society
Now on its second year, the INDX Summit 2.0 was held at the Enderun Tent, McKinley Hill, Taguig City and focused on accelerating the government’s massive digitalization thrust under its “8-Point Socioeconomic Agenda’ and the country’s first-ever ‘Medium-Term Fiscal Framework.’
The high-level summit also included, among its keynote speakers, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno, who talked about how the Philippine Digital Transformation Strategy focused on how the government is addressing key challenges like digital divide between standards and regulations in e-commerce, digitally competent workforce, cybersecurity readiness, as well as budgets and investments.
In a pre-recorded speech, the Finance Secretary said, “While the COVID-19 pandemic has redefined what we considered to be business as usual, it also presented an opportunity for economies around the world to quicken the pace towards a more digital economy. The high demand for e-commerce platforms and digital payments tells us that it is high time for us to transition towards a digital e-commerce society that will broaden financial inclusion.”
Joining him during the event were Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Emil Aquino, Insurance Commissioner Dennis Funa, as well as other local and international shakers and movers in the fintech and digital space.
The speakers were asked to share their views about the government’s national digital transformation program that focuses on inclusive finance, healthtech, agritech, quantum technology and edutech, as well as digitizing MSMEs, metaverse, digital assets, decentralized finance, blockchain, and open banking, just to name a few.
At the end of the conference, the INDX Summit 2.0 also held an Ambassadors’ Gala where local and regional key heads of missions and other international development agencies gathered.