GCash eyes ME, Europe next

MANILA, Philippines — E-wallet giant GCash will enter new markets in the Middle East and Europe to expand its global presence, as it moves to increase its value in accordance with its plan to go public.

In an interview with reporters, G-Xchange president and CEO Oscar Reyes Jr. said the e-wallet is eyeing to enter 10 markets, mostly in the Middle East, in the next few months.

Reyes said GCash is just waiting for the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to approve its request to penetrate the Middle East, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

“When it comes to GCash Overseas, the app where you can use your international SIM, we are in six markets right now. We want to go to another 10 new markets that have a lot of Filipinos,” Reyes said.

“We are working with the BSP to give us permission to increase the number of countries where we can use GCash. We work closely with the BSP to ensure the services, in their eyes, are up to par and safe for consumers in those markets,” he added.

GCash also submitted a request before the BSP to operate in several markets in Europe to serve mainly overseas Filipino workers.

This expansion is expected to raise the value of GCash as a financial service, increasing its market size in preparation for an initial public offering (IPO).

In June, Globe Telecom Inc. president and CEO Ernest Cu told Bloomberg that GCash has generated a profit for two years now, making it ripe to make an IPO within the year.

“With or without an IPO, we are continuously trying to improve GCash’s services so that we can serve the market more. There remains a lot of underserved and unserved Filipinos and businesses and we want to continue to serve them, and that actually increases our value and attractiveness to the market when we IPO,” Reyes said.

“The marching order is that [GCash] becomes IPO ready. We are doing everything that we need to do to update and make sure that we are in the best possible shape,” he added.

Nevertheless, Reyes said GCash hopes to become the first e-wallet to be listed in the main index of the Philippine Stock Exchange, adding that the app will make an IPO once market conditions improve.

GCash, owned by Mynt (Globe Fintech Innovations Inc.) and operated by G-Xchange, serves as the leading finance app in the Philippines with a portfolio of financial services ranging from cash transfer to instant loans.