GCash, the country’s leading e-wallet, said Tuesday it is rolling out its financial services for Filipinos living and working in 16 countries globally.
The company said its GCash Overseas is now available in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Germany, Qatar, Kuwait, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia.
“We are now in 13 countries—the US, Canada, UK, Australia, Italy, Japan, Germany, Spain, UAE, Qatar, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea. So the three more will be Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Singapore by April,” said Paul Albano, general manager of GCash International.
Filipinos abroad can now download and use the GCash app, whether they have Philippine SIMs or local mobile phone numbers in the countries or territories where they live.
“We recognize the financial needs of over 13 million Filipinos living abroad. With GCash now available beyond the Philippines, we are responding to the needs of global Filipinos in these cashless digital economies, providing them with a safe, secure, and efficient fintech solution to send money back home,” Albano said,.
The availability of GCash in the 16 key markets worldwide allows overseas Filipinos to send money to loved ones anytime anywhere; pay bills and be in complete control of where the money is going, including household utilities, tuition, and taxes among others; and purchase mobile phone load for loved ones to stay connected via chat or video calls.
“We want to expand to more countries, but these 16 countries already account for more than 80 percent of the remittances of our Filipino kababayans,” Albano said.
About 10 million Filipinos are working abroad. “Hopefully, we get all the 10 million into using GCash overseas,” Albano said.
GCash said that beyond enabling Filipinos around the world with a secure platform to transfer money back home, it is also offering other digital financial services, including savings, gifting vouchers and online payments.
GCash is teaming up with Ikon Solutions Asia Inc., a licensed recruitment agency, to ensure OFWs are equipped with digital financial services through the app.
The fintech leader also teamed up with global payments platform Alipay+. With Global Pay, GCash is now a viable channel to pay over 3 million Alipay+-enabled merchants in 17 countries and territories around the world, including Japan, South Korea and Singapore in the Asia-Pacific region; Qatar and United Arab Emirates in the Middle East, Italy, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom in Europe, and in the United States—all with the benefits of low foreign exchange rates and zero service fees. Moreover, the service was recently integrated with the national QRs of Malaysia and South Korea, making scanning to pay even more seamless in these countries.