Philippines – In line with their shared goal to promote and strengthen financial inclusion for Filipinos nationwide, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) recently rolled out the Paleng-QR initiative in Mandaue City in collaboration with GCash, the Philippines’ leading mobile wallet.

Under the joint initiative, market vendors, and tricycle drivers in Mandaue Public Market can easily transact with their customers through GCash QR codes. With this, both vendors and consumers can have a safer and more seamless shopping experience. Moreover, this initiative ultimately boosts the growth of the digital ecosystem, especially in the grassroots economy.

Locals also enjoyed exciting treats in GCash booths at the Mandaue Public Market where they were able to experience safer and more convenient cashless transactions first-hand. With the program’s entry to the city, GCash has so far onboarded a total of 561 out of 700 market vendors in Mandaue Public Market, and 100 members of the local Tricycle Operators/Drivers Association (TODA) to allow payment through the app.

In addition to providing a safer and more convenient cashless experience to vendors and their customers, GCash is also set to onboard more small merchants for GCash Pera Outlet (PO) in the city. This feature allows vendors and small merchants to earn extra income and grow their businesses by offering customers in their communities access to various GCash services such as Cash-in, Cash-out, Pay Bills, and Send Money. Currently, there are already a total of 1,006 vendors and merchants for GCash PO in the city.

GCash will also conduct financial literacy sessions (FinLit) to educate its users about different wealth management options in GCash such as GSave, GInsure, GLoans, GInvest, and more, that can help them grow and secure their accounts.

“We are very grateful to the BSP, DILG, and GCash for expanding the Paleng-QR initiative in the city. With this initiative and through GCash’s convenient services, small merchants, tricycle drivers, and consumers can now enjoy a hassle-free payment experience for their everyday transactions and have access to the various benefits of digital financial solutions. We are honored and open to having more strategic partnerships that will help Filipinos have secure and better lives,” Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes said.

Driven by its shared vision of “Finance for All”, GCash, BSP, and DILG have already on-boarded more vendors and tricycle drivers for the Paleng-QR initiative in various public markets in various communities all over the country.

Together with the public sector and Local Government Units (LGUs), GCash continues to build a reliable digital ecosystem to promote sustainable adoption of online financial services and make Filipino lives better every day.