The Philippines has traditionally been a cash-heavy nation, but sweeping through the country in the last decade or so, digital payment options have taken a large foothold. From 2013 to 2020 the popularity of digital payments rocketed from just 1% among Filipinos to 20%.
It’s been an area of rapid growth that has become increasingly popular for all sorts of online transactions. Not only has e-money been adopted for online retail of everything from clothes to necessities and luxury items, but also for hobbies such as online casinos. Filipinos can only gamble at foreign-based casinos and not at any operators from within the country. As a result, platforms like casinosonline.ph provide essential information on reliable options.
The increase in digital payment systems is changing the landscape, and here is a look at the top five payment methods that Filipinos use every day as the country drives towards its ‘neo-banking’ future.
Cash
Back in 2017, a report into banking in the Philippines returned data that 66% of the population didn’t hold a bank account. So with very much a cash culture, cash-in-hand still carries plenty of weight to this day.
The trusty paper and coins can be seen in full use on the streets, commonly for day-to-day shopping like groceries and dining out. Over time, as digital payment options become more popular, the future of cash will diminish.
Digital Wallets
Cashless solutions like digital wallets have been around in the country since the turn of the century, but have only taken off in recent years. Part of the appeal of digital wallets such as GCash, Maya and Paypal, is that they are easy to set up and importantly give people without bank accounts some kind of financial structure.
GCash for example is enormously versatile for day-to-day use as it can be used for online and in-store purchases, bill payments and for sending money to friends and family.
In 2020 around 25 million Filipinos held a mobile wallet. As digital wallet options don’t involve disclosing any financial information to a vendor, it offers plenty of privacy and security benefits for users.
QR PH
Launched in 2019 there has been a big leaning towards QR-based payment technology in the country. The country’s central bank, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas came up with the QR PH platform in 2019, introducing it as a new way for customers to make secure and quick peer-to-peer payments.
The evolution of that groundbreaking tech was the follow-up of the peer-to-merchant system. This took things to a new level, allowing payments to be made in local retail businesses including drug stores and the advancement of QR heads towards bill payments as well.
Credit Cards
This is still a popular method for e-commerce, primarily due to the level of established trust that credit cards give people. But this is the big exception on the list, as it’s the only one that involves spending money that may not necessarily be in the consumer’s holdings at the time. All other payment options are debit-based.
Mobile Contact Payments
Again, leaning heavily on recent technology is mobile contact payments. This is where a quick tap of a phone on a point of sale terminal, anywhere from within a department store to a restaurant, will process a payment instantly.
The use of Near-Field Communication (NFC) that devices communicate with, allows passive machines to pick up authenticated payments across Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. Payments come from linked bank cards or digital wallets.
The Changing Landscape
The landscape of payment options in the Philippines is rapidly changing as it heavily dives into a cashless system.
Cash and other options like Cash on Delivery are still around and part of the culture. But there is a creeping feeling they are being phased out, largely down to the huge recent push towards cashless payment systems.
