During her visit to the Philippines, H.M. Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA), praised GCash for its important role in promoting financial inclusion in the country.
She expressed her appreciation during a meeting at GCash’s headquarters in Bonifacio Global City, which was part of her three-day visit. Queen Máxima highlighted the significant progress made in increasing access to financial services for Filipinos, with GCash playing a part in this achievement.
In 2015, GCash had only 5 million users, but by the end of 2023, approximately 94 million individuals had tried GCash, representing 8 out of every 10 Filipinos.
However, Queen Máxima acknowledged that there is still work to be done to establish a fully inclusive financial system in the Philippines.
She emphasized the importance of public-private partnerships in ensuring that all Filipinos can access and utilize high-quality financial services, which can contribute to their financial well-being and resilience. During her visit to GCash, Queen Máxima was welcomed by Martha Sazon, the president and CEO of GCash, Ernest Cu, chairman of GCash’s holding company Mynt and president and CEO of Globe Group, as well as Fernando Zobel de Ayala, director of Ayala Corporation. Other key stakeholders, including JT Solis, co-founder and CEO of Mayani, a partner of GCash in providing fair lending and financial literacy training to farming and fishing communities, and Mynard Mojica from the inclusive finance advocacy unit of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, also attended the visit.
For her part, Sazon shared that GCash has been relentless in its pursuit of Finance for All. She noted that the platform has helped increase Filipinos’ access to essential financial services like savings, insurance, and lending, especially for unbanked and underserved communities.
“It’s been an honor to host Queen Maxima in our office, in her capacity as UN Secretary General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development. We have learned a lot with our conversation with Her Majesty and we commit to continue to champion financial inclusion in the Philippines,” said Martha Sazon, president and CEO of GCash.
Based on latest data from the BSP, digital platforms have helped improve Filipinos’ access to essential financial services. In 2019, only 29% of the Philippine population had access to bank accounts. But in 2022, this figure already increased to 65%. Other financial services are also seeing increased accessibility with credit expanding from 2% in 2014 to 8% in 2021; insurance from 23% in 2019 to 51% in 2021; and investments growing from 1% in 2020 to 2% in 2021 according to date from the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).
