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MANILA, Philippines, July 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Philippines' most popular e-wallet super app GCash represented the Southeast Asian country in an intimate roundtable discussion among Asia-Pacific tech representatives and top UK officials at 10 Downing Street, the British Prime Minister's official residence and office in London.
(From left to right) GCash Chief Technology and Operations Officer Pebbles Sy, GCash President and CEO Martha Sazon, Her Majesty's Trade Commissioner to Asia Pacific Natalie Black, and GCash Chief Finance Officer Tek Olaño at the opening ceremony of the London Tech Week 2022
This was part of GCash's series of engagements in the UK as the only Philippine fintech firm invited to join the London Tech Week 2022, Europe's largest technology festival which covers digital innovations and its future possibilities.
As the country's lone fintech delegate, GCash President and CEO Martha Sazon held talks with UK Trade Commissioner for Asia Pacific Natalie Black CBE and UK Secretary of State for Trade and President of the Board of Trade Anne-Marie Trevelyan. Sazon also held a separate meeting with the UK Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport Rt. Hon. Nadine Dorries MP.
"It's a rare privilege to have been invited to an exclusive dialogue with the Prime Minister's closest advisors at 10 Downing Street. We had a very inspiring discussion on ways to leverage tech here to drive development," shared Sazon.
"We at GCash are humbled and honored to hear how impressed the UK officials are with what GCash has achieved. Because of that, they believe in the opportunity the Philippines has to offer in the tech space," added Sazon.
Natalie Black, Her Majesty's Trade Commissioner to Asia Pacific, congratulated GCash for its participation in the London Tech Week.
"I was delighted to welcome GCash, the Philippines' largest unicorn, to London Tech Week to share their insights on financial technology and inclusion. They were part of our Asia Pacific delegation consisting of over 350 investors, entrepreneurs and government officials from Asia Pacific," Black said.
"The Philippines is an important partner to the UK, with our trading relationship worth nearly £2 billion in 2021. And with total tech spending in the Philippines reaching more than £6 billion last year, I believe our digital trade partnership will only grow deeper and stronger with the help of companies like GCash," she added.
GCash's presence at the London Tech Week is a milestone for the fintech company. The event gave the Filipino firm a global platform to show how its products and services champion financial inclusion in a developing country like the Philippines. Based on the latest count of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the country's central bank, nearly half of the Philippines' 72-million adult population is still unbanked.
GCash has been making a great headway into giving more Filipinos access to financial services as it prides itself as the country's only double unicorn – having a valuation of over USD$2 million. The company provides financial services such as e-wallet and cash transfers, savings, investments, and loans to 60 million Filipinos or over 83% of the Philippine adult population. In March alone this year, GCash was able to facilitate P500 billion ($9 billion) in total gross transaction value – its highest ever in a single month.
The operator of GCash, Mynt, is backed by one of the Philippines' largest telecommunications companies, Globe Telecom, which holds a 35.5% stake as well as China's Ant Group which owns a 34% interest. Other investors include Bow Wave Capital (14%), Warburg Pincus and Insight Partners (~11% collectively), and Ayala Corporation (5%), one of the Philippines' oldest and largest conglomerates which also controls Globe Telecom.
With its vision of promoting "Finance for All", GCash is setting its sights on achieving more game-changing milestones to reach out to more sectors, especially the underserved and vulnerable groups, and contribute to building a more robust economy.
To learn more about GCash, visit www.gcash.com.
About GCash
GCash (G-Xchange, Inc.) is the #1 Financial App in the Philippines. Through the GCash App, customers can easily purchase prepaid airtime; pay bills at over 1.3k partner billers; send and receive money anywhere in the Philippines, even to other bank accounts; purchase from over 4.5M partner merchants and social sellers; cash-in and cash-out at over 170k partner agents; and get access to savings, credit, insurance and invest money all at the convenience of their smartphones. GCash is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mynt (Globe Fintech Innovations, Inc.).
GCash was recognized by The Asian Banker (TAB) and by the IDC in 2021 for its outstanding digital financial inclusion programs impacting 60 million Filipinos in the country today.
