More Filipinos seen to go cashless – Visa
No cash? No problem
The future of the Philippines to go cashless is “good,” payments system giant Visa said, noting more Filipinos are embracing digital payments.
Stuart Tomlinson, Visa country manager for the Philippines and Guam, presented in a media briefing on Thursday its latest Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes Study which showed that 70 percent of the 500 Filipino respondents have tried to go cashless, with convenience and safety as the main factors driving this adoption.
He said 71 percent of the participants are also aware of contactless payment technology, using cards or smartphones, while 69 percent wants to use the system over cash.
This marks Filipinos’ shift to digital lifestyle, he said, adding that 58 percent now prefer shops that also accept cashless payment options, not just cash.
VisaNet March 2018 data also stated that more local consumers opt to purchase items using their cards.
Also under the consumer payment attitudes report, Filipino online shoppers have surged from 71 percent in 2016 to 92 percent in 2017. Top categories propelling this growth include paying utility bills, fashion, travel, and beauty products.
“Currently, online shopping contributes about one-fifth of total spend on Visa cards in the Philippines,” he said.
Visa’s bullishness on the Philippines cashless state was also driven by the government and industry leaders’ initiatives to increase the knowledge of Filipinos about electronic payments, the official said.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said it was targeting to increase cashless payments to 20 percent from the current 1 percent by 2020. Telco giants PLDT Inc. and Globe are also advancing digital adoption among enterprises, for an example, through quick response (QR) code system present in various merchants to allow consumers to purchase goods via their smartphones or buy loads and transfer money through mobile apps PayMaya and GCash.
Visa has also boosted its presence in the country with a recent partnership with retail giant SM for cashless transaction. Under the partnership, 5, 000 contactless terminals are enabled across 59 SM Stores in 68 SM Supermalls nationwide, allowing cardholders to make contactless payments.
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