PayMaya Philippines Inc. said Tuesday e-wallet account penetration is growing faster in the Philippines as it now surpasses credit card users.
“Digital payments adoption is fast growing and PayMaya can attest to the Filipino consumers’ shift to e-wallet as their top payment method,” said Kenneth Palacios, director and head of Consumer Business at PayMaya.
The latest Financial Inclusion dashboard released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported that e-wallet accounts rose 22 percent to 33 million in 2018.
E-wallet account penetration surpasses that of the credit card. Based on the same report, 31 e-wallet accounts are used for every 100 Filipinos as of the fourth quarter of 2018. Meanwhile, there are nine credit cards per 100 individuals.
The 2019 Consumer Brand study conducted by PayMaya Philippines showed that respondents turn to e-wallets like PayMaya because of the convenience to open an account (60 percent), no fees (54 percent) and easy Add Money features (36 percent).
Such features are answers to the top barriers cited by the respondents of the BSP’s latest Financial Inclusion survey for not owning a formal account—not having enough funds to start an account (60 percent) and lack documentary requirements (18 percent).
“PayMaya simply offers the most convenient way to open an account. You can have an account either by downloading the PayMaya app from the App store or Google Play Store or through Messenger. We do not require any maintaining balance. You can control your finances with PayMaya because the amount that you place in the account is the only money you can spend, no more, no less,” Palacios said.
Moreover, a PayMaya account allows account holders to pay bills, shop in-store and online, buy telco load and buy gaming pins, among others. One simply has to download the app from App store or from Google Play Store and provide the necessary details to open an account. They can also open an account through Messenger.
Funds can be added to an account via bank transfer through InstaPay or through PayMaya’s over 42,000 Add Money network of agents and partners.
