BayaniPay, a global payments solution platform, on Wednesday rolled out a service to enable Filipinos in the US to make direct payments of their real estate investments in the Philippines without fees.
BayaniPay teamed up with SM Development Corp. and Ortigas Land Corp. to pioneer the real estate category of Bills Pay. BayaniPay’s Bills Pay is powered by BDO Unibank Inc.
“We see a huge potential in this highly untapped market, which is marked by several barriers for overseas Filipinos. These partnerships allow us to plug the gap in cross-border payments for the real estate investment market worth P1 trillion,” BayaniPay chief executive Winston Damarillo said.
“Our partnerships with key industry leaders enable Filipino immigrants to conveniently pay their property investments in the Philippines at zero transaction fees and with competitive exchange rates,” he said.
The service offers customers the benefits of monthly auto debit and payment using an eligible funding source so they no longer have to open a separate bank account in the Philippines. With Bills Pay, BayaniPay lets real estate developers collect, automate and reconcile payments with ease through a custom dashboard.
The Philippine real estate market saw a boom in activity in the last couple of years, establishing its value of P1 trillion as of 2019, according to the latest Philippine Statistics Authority.
World Bank data show that overseas Filipinos are allotting as much as 60 percent of their remittances to property investments in the Philippines.
“Our partnership with BayaniPay bolsters our continuing effort to provide value to Filipinos in the US and help them experience living the good life,” said SMDC president Jose Mari Banzon.
“That also means giving them innovative solutions that make the purchase of their properties easy and worry-free, especially now that the real estate industry is expected to boom,” he said.
Ortigas Land International marketing director Arles Montefalcon II said: “We have seen a strong recovery of the real estate market in 2022, and we expect that this will continue in 2023 and beyond. “
“Our partnership with BayaniPay enables us to leverage new technologies to provide our customers in the US greater value for their investments,” Montefalcon said.
Through its collaboration with BDO Remit, BayaniPay amplifies its fintech capabilities to deliver more ways for global Filipinos to realize their dreams back home.
“True to our mission of finding ways to help our overseas Filipinos achieve their dreams of a better life for their families, BDO Remit is proud to be part of BayaniPay’s efforts to make digital financial services truly inclusive for our kababayans,” said Genie Gloria, senior vice president and head of BDO Remit.
BayaniPay has been delivering innovative cross-border payment solutions to the Filipino American community since 2021 with the goal of reducing cost and providing convenience every time they send money home
Bills Pay also allows for the payment of tuition, medical expenses, utilities and more, removing “middlemen” and hurdles like convenience fees that trouble them.
The Bills Pay service on the BayaniPay web app is now available for customers in California, Hawaii, New Jersey, and Alaska who are paying bills to the Philippines.