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MONETARY
regulations have suppressed Filipinos from using the
mobile phone as a cash transaction tool, according to G-Xchange
Inc. (GXI).
The same
holds true when it comes to why Filipinos are slow to
adopt the technology into their daily activities that
require cash transactions.
Rizza
Maniego-Eala, president of GXI, a wholly-owned
subsidiary of publicly-listed Globe Telecom Inc.,
pointed to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’s (BSP)
regulation as one of two major “stumbling blocks” to the
explosion of its GCash product.
“We
expected the penetration rate as quite low, similar to
when the ATM [automated teller machine system] was
introduced [and] it took eight years for full adoption,”
Maniego-Eala said during the open forum of a two-day
conference on information, communications and technology
that began Thursday.
GCash is
one of two products in the Philippines today that allows
mobile phone subscribers to send and receive money, pay
for or get loans, disburse or get salaries or
commissions, and pay bills, products and services,
through short message sending or “texting.”
Maniego-Eala admitted that the 700,000 active users of
GCash remains small compared to the 20 million Globe
subscribers.
In its
annual report submitted to the Philippine Stock
Exchange, Globe said GCash handled an average monthly
transaction value of around P6.23 billion while net
registered GCash user base reached 1.2 million at the
end of 2007.
Since it
was launched in October 2005, that number reflects an
uptake rate of 16,667 a month.
Low
awareness, Maniego-Eala said, is the first stumbling
block to the faster adoption of GCash. The second, she
said, is that cash-in/cash-out centers are required to
secure a remittance license from the BSP.
Maniego-Eala said GXI has 2,000 registered centers of
6,000 domestic outlets for GCash.
The BSP
has issued several guidelines on electronic banking to
provide the public with ample protection.
Regulating e-banking is also part of international
regulations on the transfer of money. A BSP official
explained to BusinessMirror it is GXI’s partner banks
that go through a scrutiny, and not GXI or its
cash-in/cash-out center. “Every time there’s a deviation
or enhancement [in their program], we need to validate
if there’re provisions for the ample protection of
consumers,” the BSP official said.
Because
of concern over fraud, terrorism and criminal
activities, financial regulators have been reining in
the money-transfer industry.
Maniego-Eala emphasized that GCash follows the KYC, or
know y our customer, provision as well as
anti-money-laundering rules.
GCash
and Smart Money by rival Smart Communications Inc. have
the potential to lower transaction costs and bring the
“unbanked” segment of the population to the mainstream
financial system, according to monetary institutions. |
