By Francis Earl Cueto, Manila Bulletin
DIGITAL wallet GCash reached another milestone as it breached the P3-trillion mark in gross transaction value (GTV) in the first half of the year and hit 66 million users.
The value nearly matched its P3.8 trillion full-year GTV in 2021.
GCash expects to end 2022 with P6 trillion GTV.
The company announced that its user base has grown to 66 million, with four out of five adults in the Philippines having a GCash account.
"We've seen higher user engagement now that things have started to normalize, further proof that GCash has become embedded in the everyday lives of Filipinos," Martha Sazon, GCash President and CEO, said in a statement.
GCash also doubled down on its merchant acquisition efforts and partnerships resulting in a merchant and social seller base of 5.2 million, 1.9 times higher than the same quarter of last year.
This makes GCash the largest digital ecosystem in the Philippines.
It also expanded its cash-in and cash-out outlets to 339,000 - 5.7 times higher year on year. In addition, its lifestyle portal GLife has 520 merchants and is introducing new categories such as content, health, insurance and e-government.
With all these developments, GCash said it continues to be the number one finance app in the country.
"It just goes to show that the Filipinos' shift to a more digital lifestyle is not limited to those during lockdowns.We continue to see the adoption increasing, and even the everyday use and use case diversity are growing. I think the adoption is here to stay and we're not seeing it plateauing in the near future," Sazon said.
