Keisha Ta-Asan – The Philippine Star

August 27, 2025 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — E-wallet giant GCash disbursed P287 billion in loans to 9.5 million borrowers as of end-June, underscoring its growing role in extending credit access to underserved Filipinos.

G-Xchange Inc. president and CEO Oscar Enrico Reyes Jr. said the company’s lending arm Fuse has been providing borrowers with products such as GLoan, GCredit and GGives, which have become financial lifelines for many users.

“Digital finance rewrites this moment. It removes location as a barrier, lowers costs and brings financial access to millions who are one step ahead,” Reyes said during the 2025 Manila Tech Summit.

GCash has also expanded its presence across financial services beyond credit. The e-wallet reported 14.5 million users on its GSave deposit product, 1.4 million GStocks investors, 8.3 million GFunds users and 16.8 million policyholders through GInsure.

In terms of everyday use, the platform processes as many as 50 million transactions daily and is supported by over six million partner merchants and social sellers. It has also rolled out operations in 145 overseas markets to serve Filipinos abroad.

While digital adoption has accelerated, Reyes stressed that gaps in financial access remain.

“We improved banking penetration to 65 percent from 29 percent. But 35 percent still remain unbanked. We quadrupled access to formal credit to eight percent from two percent. But 90 percent still have no access to loans,” he said.

To address this, GCash has started rolling out new services, including GJobs, a platform matching blue-collar workers with employment opportunities as well as initiatives promoting Sharia-compliant finance in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region.

“Financial inclusion is not just about pay. It is also about access to livelihood and opportunity,” Reyes said.

GCash, operated by Globe Fintech Innovations Inc. (Mynt), remains the country’s largest e-wallet and continues to position itself as a “digital bridge” for payments, savings, investments, insurance and credit for millions of Filipinos.

Globe’s share in the equity earnings of Mynt surged by 78 percent to P3.8 billion in the first half from P2.1 billion in the same period last year, making up 26 percent of the telco’s pre-tax profit.

Connectivity provider Globe reported a net income of P12.4 billion as of June, 14-percent lower than the P14.5 billion a year ago as revenue declined.