GCash to drive BNPL growth in the Philippines this year

GCash BNPL pay later
Image by AndreyPopov | Bigstockphoto

Riding on the region’s Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) wave, the Philippines’ leading mobile wallet GCash is looking to launch a BNPL service this year.

With an average of P1 billion ($19.7 million) in loans disbursed monthly and P15 billion ($290 million) worth of loans deployed as of June, GCash’s GCredit feature has been one of their most successful ventures so far. The company’s move to offer BNPL is, according to the company, a logical next step as it expands its financial services.

Analysts forecast BNPL payments in the Philippines to grow by 66.6% at the end of 2021, on the back of expansion by local and regional BNPL providers such as BillEase, Jungle, Cashalo, and Tendopay.

GCash’s recent announcement will further speed up the use of BNPL services in the country, where as much as 51.2 million Filipinos, or 50% of the total population, are unbanked.

Following its move into the BNPL space, GCash also aims to pilot a new service called GLoan, which allows qualified users to borrow P25,000 ($500) with repayments spread over 12 months.

“As a driver of financial inclusion, our objective is clear, and that is to ease the friction being experienced by unbanked and underserved Filipinos,” said Martha Sazon, President and CEO of GCash. The mobile wallet has claimed to improve financial inclusion in the country by amassing 46 million users to date.

GCash is owned by Globe Telecom, the Philippines’ largest telecom by market value, which recently reported a surge in stock price driven by the popularity of GCash. The telco has also announced its own major developments in recent weeks, which include a pivot to digital-focused services and the divestment of its data centres worth $200 million.

“Over the years, Globe has shown remarkable growth as a result of its exemplary performance and sound management decisions. This, in turn, earned the trust of our stakeholders whose support allows us to continuously expand our businesses, offer quality products and services, and reach more customers,” said Ernest Cu, Globe’s president and CEO.

Be the first to comment

What do you think?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.