AF Payments eyes more beep card partnerships

BEEP cardholders may soon reload and make purchases in more convenience stores as the contactless payment provider is currently in talks with 7-Eleven and Ministop.

The Ayala and Metro Pacific groups’ joint venture is looking to build its presence in more convenience stores this year, AF Payments, Inc. (AFPI) President and CEO Peter Maher said in a recent interview.

“We’re working with 7-Eleven and we’re working with Ministop. The idea is for us to be present in all of the leading convenience store chains in 2017,” Mr. Maher said.

AFPI and the two convenience chains are already in the “technical implementation” stage, he added.

Late last year, the beep card company inked a partnership deal with Japanese convenience store FamilyMart, allowing cardholders to reload and pay for their purchases at its branches. FamilyMart is beep card’s first retail partner.

Mr. Maher said AFPI’s focus on smaller transactions fits well with the convenience store platform in the Philippines.

“Our cards are framed for transactions of a certain amount. We’re not a credit card… we’re focused on smaller transactions — maybe P500 and below, that’s where we think we will get more transactions. So that’s bus fare, rail fare, cup of coffee, convenience store (purchases) because the average purchase amount is typically less than P100 across all convenience store here. So that’s a good transaction amount for beep cards,” he explained.

Another area which AFPI is looking at partnerships is with fast-food restaurants such as Jollibee and McDonald’s.

“QSRs (quick service restaurants) are also very attractive to us so that’s Jollibee, the McDonald’s, all of these where the average amount is P200 to P250. So we’re hoping, we’re in discussions with many quick service restaurants and we will announce when we can,” Mr. Maher said.

AF Payments, which bagged the P1.72billion public-private partnership (PPP) deal for the automatic fare collection system for Metro Manila’s railways, earlier said 2.5 million beep cards have been sold since its launch in 2015.

In 2015, the “beep” cards were first implemented in Metro Manila’s railways — Light Rail Transit (LRT)-1, on LRT2, and on the Metro Rail Transit Line 3. They replaced magnetic tickets, as it aimed to make the fare payment process more convenient and to allow seamless transfer from one train line to another.

The beep card is also being used in select bus lines and the Manila-Cavite Expressway. It is also set to be accepted in the North Luzon Expressway and the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway within the first quarter.