G-Xchange to push GCASH to more banks, gov’t agencies

G-Xchange to push GCASH to more banks, gov't agencies

G-XCHANGE, Inc., the wholly owned mobile phone commerce subsidiary of Globe Telecom, Inc., is aggressively pushing its GCASH service this year among banks and government agencies to increase the number of its existing users, an official said yesterday.

"This year, it's more of utilizing the platform [through] payments [services] and interfaces with banks. We're now embarking on new applications for GCASH... and develop other businesses," Paolo Eugenio J. Baltao, G-Xchange president, told reporters as the company and the Union Bank of the Philippines, Inc. launched their partnership.

The GCASH service allows users to transfer money using their mobile phones.

G-Xchange's partnership with UnionBank will allow the bank's clients to transfer funds to and from their GCASH wallets.

Mr. Baltao said that including the partnership with UnionBank, G-Xchange now has tie-ups with 76 rural and commercial banks including the Bank of the Philippine Islands, Philippine National Bank, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., Metropolitan Bank & Trust Corp. and Asia United Banking Corp.
Earlier this month, the firm also inked an agreement with Department of Social Welfare and Development and Land Bank of the Philippines for the use of the GCASH platform to disburse funds under the government's cash conditional transfer scheme.

"We will soon be launching a partnership with another government agency soon," Mr. Baltao added.

Ultimately, the goal of G-Xchange is to increase its current one million active users to 26 million, the number of Globe Telecom subscribers.

"That is the ultimate target -- to have all subscribers use GCASH wallet," Mr. Baltao said, declining to say how many active users they are targeting by yearend.

Current transactions being coursed through GCASH service averages to "more than $100 million" a month, Mr. Baltao said, from an average of "almost $100 million a month" in the past two years.

"Previously, we focused more on international business remittance units," Mr. Baltao said, adding the firm has 1,000 outlets worldwide in 33 countries.

Locally, G-Xchange has 18,000 GCASH registered outlets, but only about 9,000 are active.

"We plan to increase the 9,000 active [outlets] to 11,000 to 12,000 this year," Mr. Baltao said. -- Kathleen A. Martin

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