Virus forced govt to adopt digital financial services

THE Philippine government realized the importance of the digitalization of fiNANCIAL SERVICES AFTER THE CORONAVIRUS disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic compelled it to bank on technology, according to PayMaya.

During an online business forum on Tuesday, Marvin Santos, PayMaya enterprise head for the public sector, said the government had started ramping up its adoption of digital financial services as going cashless became a “necessity” during the ongoing public health crisis.

He said PayMaya — the mobile wallet of PLDT Inc.’s financial technology arm Voyager Innovations Inc. — had so far disbursed over P1.4 billion in financial aid from government agencies and local government units ( LGUs).

These included the Social Security System and the Department

of Social Welfare and Development, which tapped PayMaya’s system for the Small Business Wage Subsidy and Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations programs, respectively.

PayMaya also secured partnerships with the Bureau of Internal Revenue; Home Development Mutual Fund; the Trade, Foreign Affairs and Science departments; and the Professional Regulation Commission, among others.

Meanwhile, the LGUs of Caloocan, Las Piñas, Manila, Mandaluyong, Pasig and Quezon City were the first to embrace its platform to disburse financial assistance respective citizens.

But Santos noted that some LGUs still see digital payments as intimidating in terms of alloting enough funds to push for the shift.

“They said going digital is expensive, but there is not much to spend, really,” he said.

In a statement, PayMaya said it provided its partners with a full payment suite, from the e- Wallet app to a host of solutions, for government payment acceptance. It has more than 30,000 Smart Padala touchpoints that can process digital financial transactions nationwide. to their