Globe Telecom eyes taking mobile banking services to ASEAN

Ayala-led Globe Telecom Inc. is looking to offer its mobile-based banking service to other Southeast Asian markets once the ASEAN integration is in place.

 

Looking for new telco investments in the ASEAN region is "a bit difficult" given the maturity of the industry in their respective territories, president and CEO Ernest Cu told reporters in a briefing in Makati City Friday.

 

"Majority of the markets we see in Southeast Asia – certainly in emerging markets – are very saturated and mature," he said.

 

"What can be explored as an opportunity is taking our banking product overseas," he said.

 

Globe has GCash, the mobile money service of its subsidiary G-Xchange Inc. It also has BanKO, a mobile-based, microfinance-focused savings bank in collaboration with Bank of the Philippine Islands and Ayala Corp.

 

By 2015, the ASEAN Economic Community sets in motion the creation of single market and production base for the 10-nation bloc fostering free flow of goods, services, skilled labor, investments and capital.

 

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

 

Cu said there are a lot of economies in region that are very similar to the Philippines in terms of un-banked population.

 

"It is something, perhaps, our mobile banking product that we have under BanKO and G-Cash, could be applicable," he added.

 

What makes the e-commerce services relatively easy to replicate in other countries is the lack of alternatives to financial inclusion, Cu said.

 

The Philippines is more challenging than, let's say Bangladesh or Myanmar because of pawnshops and remittance companies," he said.

 

"So we think a combination of what we're doing and what can be localized in those economies may succeed," the company official added.

 

The 2015 AEC does not pose a threat to the Philippine telco industry.

 

"The effect on telco is minimal because it is regulated. It would require licenses, and entry to this market will require partnerships," Cu said.

 

"So we expect very little, immediate impact on us," he added. –VS, GMA News