PayMaya Philippines, Inc. (formerly Smart eMoney, Inc ) has successfully managed to run mobile money interoperability trials between the mobile PayMaya app and Globe’s GCash service. The cooperation between the two brands follows the GSM Association’s (GSMA) initiative to make mobile money services more accessible to all Filipinos. It is the first successful trial of its kind in Southeast Asia.
The initiative is also in line with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ vision for a local National Payments Retail System (NPRS). Stakeholders of the NPRS program include banks, remittance providers, microfinance, and other financial institutions such as PayMaya.
“This is a step toward advancing the future our digital economy. Even before this initiative, we have pioneered a mobile payments solution that can be used by users from any telco provider by launching PayMaya, an over-the-top digital service. Interoperability, therefore, is but a natural progression in the ongoing evolution of financial technology services in the country,” said Orlando Vea, president and CEO of PayMaya Philippines.
The interoperability service is also expected to help grow mobile money usage in the archipelago, which in turn will drive the development of local digital commerce.
“We welcome this milestone on the mobile money interoperability initiative between Smart/PayMaya and Globe GCash. This development comes on the heels of the launch of the National Retail Payment System (NRPS) Framework in December led by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and fully supported by the industry, which aims to create a safe, efficient, reliable, and affordable electronic retail payment system that is interconnected and interoperable,” said BSP deputy governor Nestor Espenilla, Jr.
“As we have done with collaborations with the BSP in the past, we are fully committed to support this initiative led by the GSMA, cognizant of the benefits it will bring to millions of mobile money users around the country,” concluded Benjie Fernandez, co-chief operating officer of PayMaya Philippines.