China's Alipay introduces offline e-payment system into Philippine market

MANILA — A new offline e-payment system supported by China's mobile payment platform Alipay was rolled out Wednesday in Manila, showing the country's desire to accelerate the digitization to help facilitate the lives of Filipinos.

At the launch ceremony, Philippine consumers experienced buying goods and services through scanning QR codes by a mobile phone app called GCash. Business owners also benefited from not having to install expensive machines as they only needed a QR code sticker which buyers can scan to pay.

The offline e-payment technology of GCash mobile wallet app was shared by the Ant Financial Services Group, an affiliate company of China's Alibaba Group. The app is owned by the Globe Telecom, which is a major provider of telecommunications services in the Philippines. Another partner of Alibaba is the Philippine retail and real estate giant Ayala Group, which leads to the Ayala owned shopping malls to firstly use the offline e-payment system in many of its shops and restaurants as well as in its cinemas.

Eric Jing, CEO of Ant Financial Services Group, said, "Ant Financial has actively worked with our global strategic partners to realize innovative and local solutions that cater to different markets. In the Philippines, we have been working closely with Globe Telecom and Ayala Corporation by sharing our e-payment technology know-how. The goal is to bring cost-effective, efficient and secure digital financial experiences to the local market. Beginning from Ayala Malls, we look forward to seeing even higher e-payment adoption so more Filipinos can enjoy the benefits of inclusive digital finance."

"In this country, only 5 percent of the total population has credit cards, leaving most people to carry cash for payment. Today, we are introducing a 'third method of payment'," said Ernest Cu, Globe president and CEO.

"Now that more people are using data on their smartphones, the time is ripe to enable digital payments using the smartphone and let this go mainstream. Our challenge today is to make digital payments the preferred choice among our customers instead of cash or credit cards," added Cu.

GCash is mobile wallet service which can be used to pay bills, send money, and pay for goods and services whether online or offline. The platform is similar to that of China's Alipay.

Mynt, the operator of GCash, is a joint venture innovating company owned by Ant Financial Services Group, Globe Telecom and Ayala Group.