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By APD writer Melo M. Acuña
**MANILA, Aug. 29 (APD) ** – More Filipinos are getting into cashless payments according to the findings from the latest Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes study.
In a press briefing, Dan Wolbert, Visa country manager for the Philippines and Guam, the results came from the fifth edition of their study conducted on 3,000 individuals across eight markets in Southeast Asia. Five hundred respondents were from the Philippines from different income levels from P12,000 to P80,000 monthly income which reflects the banked population.
According to the study, 75 percent of respondents plan on using more card payments instead of cash and two out of three respondents in the Philippines tried going cashless. Close to 60 percent have gone cashless payments for at least a few days. The respondents said the top benefits of cashless payments cited increased convenience, hassle-free and not carrying as much cash.
“It is heartening to know that more Filipinos are seeing the benefits of using digital payments based on the findings from the study. Visa’s data also shows a similar trend, where we continue to see good double-digit growth in terms of spend and transactions made by Filipino cardholders,” Wolbert said.
He added there is still a lot of opportunity for cash displacement in the Philippines as they continue to work on a few priorities in the Philippines including the growth in digital payments in the country as well as expand merchant acceptance footprints for digital payments.
About 74% of Filipinos last year agree that cashless payment methods are safer than cash, up from 42% in 2017 and 75% of Filipinos plan to use cashless payment methods more often and move away from cash which is also saw an increase from 47% in 2017.
“We have seen strong growth in contactless payments in the Philippines, especially after partnerships with key merchants such as (Filipino taipans-owned) SM and Robinsons who have implemented contactless payments acceptance across their stores in the Philippines,” Wolbert added.
Transportation in the Philippines is a category where Filipinos are keen to use e-payments. According to their study about nine out of 10 Filipinos are generally supportive of e-payments for transportation which will include home-grown jeepneys, buses, trains, taxis, and private car hires. Half of the respondents believe it is more convenient to pay using credit or debit cards for transportation fares.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
