HOMEGROWN e-wallet GCash continues with its global expansion.
This month, GCash will be rolled out in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Singapore, making money transfers in and out of the Philippines easier for its users, especially the overseas Filipino workers.
GCash is currently available in 13 countries where there is a large overseas Filipino presence.
“We are expected to launch in three more countries—Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Singapore. As we aim to reach more overseas Filipinos and enable them to connect with their loved ones back home,” according to GCash’s report during Globe’s first quarter media briefing.
The GCash app will give OFWs access to services such as buy load, pay bills and send money.
Besides the rollout of the GCash app overseas, the e-wallet also offers payments in 47 countries through GCash Global Pay. In partnership with Alipay+, this feature offers a hassle-free travel experience abroad through a seamless and secure payment experience across various merchants through Scan to Pay.
According to its report, GCash active user base is now five times larger than the next e-wallet, based on statistics from reputable third-party provider data.ai.
Its network of online and offline merchants and social sellers now stands at over six million partners and hosts over 1,000 merchant partners via GLife.
The app also boasts a comprehensive suite of digital financial services, covering savings (via GSave), investments (via GFunds and the recently launched GStocks PH and GCrypto) and insurance products (via GInsure).
On credit, backed by its proprietary trust platform and credit scoring via GScore, GCash said it has provided access to credit to over 4.5 million borrowers, of which the majority are from lower socio-economic classes and half are women.
With its commitment to continuous innovation and enhancing customer experience, GCash also launched two new app features— Trust and Security, which enables users to further secure their accounts by authorizing one account to one device. It has also fully rolled out the Privacy Choices dashboard that allows users to access and manage their data and privacy rights in one consolidated view.
First quarter performance
Mynt, Globe’s fintech arm, which operates GCash maintained its upward momentum in the first quarter of the year.
Globe said the e-wallet remains the preferred choice, empowering an increasing number of Filipinos with a diverse range of digital financial tools and services, resulting in significant growth in both user base and profitability.
Globe’s share in Mynt’s equity earnings for the first quarter of the year amounted to P962 million, which now accounts for 11 percent of this period’s net income before tax versus four percent last year. Compared to the same period in 2023, Mynt’s equity earnings grew by 138 percent.
Globe ended the first quarter with a net income of P6.8 billion, down seven percent from P7.3 billion in the same period last year. In the first three months, the Ayala-led telco invested P13.7 billion in capital expenditures (capex) down by 22 percent. Around 91 percent of the firm’s capex was used for data requirements. / KOC