Visa\u2019s latest Consumer Payment Attitudes (CPA) Study revealed that Filipinos increasingly prefer virtual banking. The recent study, which interviewed 1,000 Filipino consumers aged 18 to 65 years old, notably found that the respondents mainly use virtual banking services for their bills payment (80%), fund transfer (76%), deposits and withdrawals (75%) and for payments at retail locations (63%). Moreover, 91% of them were found to be interested in virtual banking – an increase from the 88% and 81% recorded in 2021 and 2020, respectively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Filipino consumers cited that they prefer virtual banking due to its safety and convenience – as they no longer need to visit a physical bank and the constraints of traditional banking hours and days no longer apply. Furthermore, the respondents appreciate that they can effectively monitor and manage their finances by receiving prompt notifications of transactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our View: <\/strong>Filipinos’ preference in virtual banking continues to grow but challenges still persist. According to Visa’s study, 60% of Filipinos continue to favor traditional banks as their primary banking channel. Additionally, 51% of the respondents expressed their concerns about virtual banking potentially leading to unauthorized or fraudulent transactions, while 47% fear the risk of hacking. Despite that, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) remains committed to taking a careful approach to consumer protection from fraud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nevertheless, Visa’s study underscores that the growing acceptance of virtual banking methods has the potential to enhance financial inclusion among Filipinos. Beyond providing convenience, virtual banking also offers lower overall costs and can serve as an effective platform for financial education. Looking ahead, Visa expects that as the banking industry continues its shift toward digitalization, virtual banking will steadily gain prevalence in terms of awareness, interest, and usage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Therefore, we continue to like Globe\u2019s (GLO) GCash as it continues to be the leading Finance Super App in the Philippines. As of 3Q\/9M 2023, GCash had an active user base that is 5x larger than the next e-wallet and had the largest digital ecosystem featuring 6 million merchants and social sellers, along with over 900 merchant partners hosted in GLife. GLO\u2019s equity earnings from GCash notably accounted for 6% of the period\u2019s net income before tax – and we see the digital platform contributing even more to the company\u2019s growth moving forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n