IPO proceeds to fund lending, global expansion – GCash

MANILA, Philippines — E-wallet giant GCash will spend the proceeds from its initial public offering (IPO) on expanding the lending business and speeding up international growth, its top executive said.

In an interview with Bloomberg at the World Economic Forum 2025, GCash president and CEO Martha Sazon said the e-wallet is still cautious about going public in this particular market.

If GCash proceeds with its IPO, Sazon said the e-wallet would invest the proceeds in scaling up its lending portfolio, especially as it becomes a lender of choice by millions of Filipinos.

GCash has extended loans to 6.9 million Filipinos as of the third quarter of 2024. Before the end of 2024, the e-wallet introduced a new product that lends as low as P100 and P300, payable in 14 days with zero interest, particularly designed for low-income users.

Apart from this, GCash wants to use the proceeds to broaden its global reach and serve Filipinos abroad. The leading e-wallet in the Philippines is present in Australia, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and the US.

Moreover, GCash plans to enter new bases in a bid to become the preferred remittance channel of overseas Filipino workers, charging them zero service fees for in-app transfer.

However, it remains unclear when GCash will list its shares to become public, as the e-wallet waits for the perfect timing to file its IPO.

For now, Sazon said consumers can expect GCash to bring in more features, including the option to buy bonds for as low as $9.

“Bonds is one of the products we want to offer soon, (and) we are working with the government to offer GBonds for as low as $9. The more than 90 million subscribers of GCash can now have access to that soon,” Sazon said.

On top of this, GCash is improving its artificial intelligence (AI) system to enhance its efficiency. Right now, the e-wallet relies on AI for the credit scoring of its users.

In spite of this, Sazon hopes regulators can find a way to enforce a governance framework for the use of AI, warning that the lack of rules may lead to the technology spiraling out of control.

GCash is the largest finance app in the Philippines offering a suite of financial services, ranging from cash transfer and bills payment, to credit access and stocks investment.