Globe’s GCash grew 200% yearly average since 2004

Globe's GCash grew 200% yearly average since 2004

WEDNESDAY, 20 JULY 2011 19:39     JUN VALLECERA / REPORTER  


G-XChange Inc. or GXI, the fully-owned subsidiary of Globe Telecom that operates the mobile platform GCash, reported growth of more than 200 percent every year for its remittance unit since Globe Telecom's electronic wallet or e-wallet service started in 2004.

The remittance unit accounts for just a small fraction of all GCash transactions but it already boasts of a million-strong cardholder base most of  whom are overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), GXI president Paolo Balatao told in a press conference on Wednesday.

"We're catching up with the big boys but we are not here to compete but rather to complement what they are extending to our OFWs," he said.

He would not detail the growth claim lest he give away too much to his competitors, but his remarks underscore the diminishing importance of so-called informal remittance channels that used to grab 20 percent of the multibillion-dollar remittance business.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) used to lament that a good portion of OFW remittance flows pass through high-risk and costly door-to-door mone transfer schemes, for instance.

Such flows, BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said, now account for only 3 percent or 5 percent of the annual remittance volume.

Globe Telecom's GCash announced its partnership with the Aboitiz-owned Union Bank on Wednesday under the eMoney XChange service that enable the bank's  clients with EON, ePayCard and Union Bank regular savings and checking accounts to transfer funds to and from their GCash wallets through their Union Bank account via text or short messaging service.

With the service, one could engage in e-banking or electronic banking activities while in the Philippines using GCash or top up one's mobile phone using the EON card while abroad, for instance, it was explained.

"We are opening up more possibilities for our customers to further engage in online opportunities like online business, shopping and sending remittance.  This partnership with GCash will also cultivate new customer relationships and strengthen existing connections," Ramon Duarte, senior vice president for retail product development at Union Bank, said.

EON's 2-million cardholder base come mainly from the online merchant community, while GCash's 1-million strong customers are mostly mobile-phone subscribers that use the service for remittance purposes.

GCash has also been tapped by the government as a conduit for its conditional cash transfer or CCT program serving some 500,000 of the 1.9 million CCT-eligible recipients around the country who otherwise could not be conveniently served by banks in the rural areas.

GCash helps disburse CCT recipients in some 400 of the 1,800 municipalities covered by the government cash-disbursement program.

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