GCash PowerPay+ expands financial inclusion in Semirara Island

Empowered by its vision of financial inclusion, GCash, operated by Globe Fintech Innovations Inc. (Mynt), takes another leap towards the realization of its vision by bringing its financial services to far off sites like Semirara Island.

Located at the southern tip of Caluya, Antique, Semirara Island was almost untouched by development with lush vegetation, sandy beaches, and clear skies backdropping the beautiful people of the area.

As such, the closed island is only equipped with a single bank and six automated teller machines, serving over 19,000 residents that are heavily dependent on cash. Communities of workers would struggle to avail basic financial services, such as sending money to their families or even buying prepaid load for their cellphones. Individuals would have to allot time and effort to do something as menial as withdrawing cash to buy basic commodities, such as food, groceries or clothing items.

“We immediately identified the limited availability of financial services as one of the key pain points to address. We immediately tailor fitted our solutions to help bring greater inclusion to the residents of the island," Luigi Reyes Vice President for Enterprise at GCash, said. Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC) tapped GCash to provide cashless solutions and as well as salary disbursement mechanisms for the island.

GCash then introduced GCash PowerPay+ to serve as a compliment to the company’s existing payroll system. Over 3,000 employees are now able to receive funds directly through their GCash accounts.

GCash is the first digital wallet to launch partnerships with firms for seamless reimbursement of employee expenses, these include salaries, loans or allowances. GCash PowerPay+ can be used as an automated salary disbursement mechanism, where employees are given real-time payments. Individuals can withdraw their funds from BancNet ATMs in the country.

Along with this, they have access to countless digital financial products from GCash, ones which can be used for digital payments, remittances, credit, investments, and even insurance.

"SMPC has also allowed us to enable QR payments in commissaries, food court, and wet markets, allowing for ease and convenience of doing daily transactions through GCash scan to pay," Reyes explained.

With its integration, around 60 percent of SMPC employees now purchase load through GCash and 15 percent utilize the application to send remittances to their family members or loved ones.

With this, the app's send-to-bank feature -- its membership to the central bank’s InstaPay -- prove its worth, helping outsourced employees. With just their smartphones, they can manage their finances remotely through GCash. GCash continues to fulfill its vision by partnering with companies and communities in need of digital finance.

“GCash has helped SMPC employees by providing alternative and convenient ways to avail of financial services through digital, in-app products, making it easier for them to do day-to-day transactions which would normally take a lot of time and effort to do,” Reyes said.

GCash has also introduced new and easy ways to avail of basic financial services through Invest Money, GCredit, and GSave, “effectively enabling their aspirations through financial inclusion,” he added.