MOBILE wallet GCash said Friday it obtained the approval of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to allow more Filipinos overseas to use the app with their international mobile numbers.
Initially available in beta to users in the US, Canada, Italy, the UK, Australia and Japan, the BSP’s approval paves the way for the full rollout of the service and expansion to 10 more countries.
These include the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Spain and Germany.
“In 2024 and beyond, we are doubling down on our mission to serve our users beyond Philippine shores. With around 13 million Filipinos living abroad, we recognize and answer the need for them to be present for their families back home and remain in control of helping build the financial future of their loved ones,” said Ren-Ren Reyes, president and CEO of G-Xchange Inc., the operator of GCash.
GCash users in these 16 countries can sign up with their international mobile numbers with their Philippine passport or other Philippine Valid ID as proof of identity.
Once fully verified, they can finally support their families back home securely and seamlessly by sending money for free (GCash-to-GCash), paying for bills on time and instantly buying them load credits with just a few taps on the app.
“Thanks to BSP’s support, we are now able to provide our kababayans across the globe access to financial services that would help alleviate difficulties in managing their finances and better support their families back home. We will soon be rolling out more services like savings, gifting vouchers, using their GCash for online payments, as well as more accessible ways to cash-in,” said Paul Albano, general manager of GCash International.
Aside from enabling overseas Filipinos to use GCash with their own international mobile number, the leading fintech company has also been expanding its global touchpoints in partnership with global payments platform Alipay+.
The finance super app can be used to pay select merchants across countries like Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Macau in Asia as well as Qatar, the UAE, the US, and destinations in Europe such as France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
The new GCash card, powered by international payments giant Visa, also gives users another cashless payment method when they travel abroad. The card can be used to pay in over 100 million merchants across 200 countries and territories.