𝐏𝐇 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐅𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐚 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓 𝐌𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬

 𝐏𝐇 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐅𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐚 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓 𝐌𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬

𝘍𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘢 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴

𝐁𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐀, 𝐒𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐍 — Two Filipina tech leaders from Mynt, the holding company of GCash, the #1 finance super app in the Philippines—Martha Sazon, President & CEO, and Pebbles Sy, Chief Technology and Operations Officer—represented the country’s transformative adoption of connectivity, mobile tech, and the digital economy during the prestigious Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain

Sazon and Sy once again brought GCash’s mission of “Finance For All” to a global audience, who highlighted how fintech innovations can be used for social good—from increasing access to essential financial services within historically underserved communities to leveraging cutting-edge fintech developments to drive meaningful change and economic empowerment.

𝐑𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐩𝐩

Martha Sazon was part of the MWC CEO Panel, “Fintech and Mobile Commerce Summit: Powering Mobile First Commerce,” which explored how companies like GCash can enhance the leapfrog effect of tech and artificial intelligence to address barriers to financial inclusion.

Sazon discussed how GCash first set out to meet an increased demand for seamless, mobile-first solutions among Filipinos as a money transfer app—but then went on to elevate its services by establishing a diverse and wide-ranging financial ecosystem that actively caters to unbanked and traditionally underserved sectors.

“Our money transfer services were the gateway to a broader digital economy. Across the years, and in response to our users’ needs, GCash has broadened its functionalities into a comprehensive selection of financial services, including savings, investments, insurance, and banking," explained Sazon. "Our work has empowered individuals to take control of their financial well-being and pursue economic opportunities previously out of reach, all from the convenience of their mobile phones.”

Sazon stressed that the key to the digital financial ecosystem’s success is how it focused on addressing systemic issues and the limits of traditional financial institutions: GCash aimed to break down fundamental barriers to inclusion, which included lack of infrastructure, lack of avenues for boosting financial literacy, and the lack of progressive solutions that allow for widespread access to services.

Today, GCash has accelerated financial inclusion in the Philippines, helping raise the number of customers with access to a bank account from 29% to 65%, those with access to formal credit from 2% to 8%, and those with access to insurance from 23% to 51%, all in four years.

The features of GCash range from payments and transfers that make online and offline commerce easier to lending solutions that utilize AI. A groundbreaking example of the latter is GCash’s in-house credit scoring model, GScore, which uses transactional behavior as a proxy for measuring a user’s creditworthiness and has ultimately changed the landscape of microlending.

GScore, in particular, has allowed GCash to disburse roughly $3.2 billion by 2024 to over seven million Filipinos, most of whom are women from underserved sectors. Its suite of solutions also includes tools for wealth management, with the company introducing bite-sized financial offerings to match the “sachet economy” of the Philippines.

“The conventional super app is defined as having multiple features in a single platform, but for us, a super app means being an everyday companion,” said Sazon. “It’s about constant innovation: We look at our daily use cases and find ways to make things better.”

𝐔𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭

In addition to opening doors for the underbanked and underserved, GCash invests in innovations, such as APIs (application programming interfaces), which allowed it to connect and collaborate with service partners to deliver personalized solutions. These, in turn, have boosted the super app's capabilities in catering to a multitude of diverse, and personalized needs of its users.

During the "Platform Economy" MWC panel, which focused on increasing access to financial services through everyday apps and fintech ecosystems, Pebbles Sy shared how GCash's API integration has been a key factor in expanding reach and improving user experience.

She also noted how this approach has necessitated the continuous adoption and development of modular and reusable features that must work well with other app components: “Today, we’re connecting thousands of microservices on our platform through APIs. We also use APIs to connect with external partners like merchants and other service providers.”

According to Sy, when financial services are seamlessly integrated, they become second nature for its users. Thanks to APIs, GCash connects users with 1,200 billers and 17 insurers within the app, as well as with four partner banks for savings accounts and to a platform that enables Filipinos to invest with the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Sy added, “This is where embedded finance goes beyond just inclusion. It’s not just about providing access to financial services; it’s about making them work for people [as they] build better financial habits, protect what they earn, and plan for the future.”

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡

Meanwhile, during the MWC's "The Currency of Change" session—which discussed how mobile money contributes to GDP growth and how financial innovations drive economic development—Sy emphasized the importance of aligning the future of fintech with strategies for ensuring the security and sustainability of innovations.

Citing Google’s e-Conomy Southeast Asia Report in collaboration with Temasek and Bain & Company, she shared that the Philippines emerged as the fastest-growing digital economy in the ASEAN region, where mobile money penetration more than quadrupled in the two years during the COVID-19 pandemic. These advancements highlight the profound economic impact of mobile money in the Philippines, which GCash is ready to safeguard and facilitate further.

She added, “At the end of the day, the goal is clear: We must make financial services accessible, safe, and empowering. We want to go beyond inclusion and see financial progress in Filipinos, which hopefully can [translate into] financial health and freedom.”

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𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐆𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐡

GCash is the Philippines’ #1 Finance Super App and Largest Cashless Ecosystem. Through the GCash App, users can easily purchase prepaid airtime; pay bills via partner billers nationwide; send and receive money anywhere in the Philippines, even to other bank accounts; purchase from over 6 million partner merchants and social sellers; and get access to savings, credit, loans, insurance and invest money, and so much more, all at the convenience of their smartphones. Its mobile wallet operations are handled by G-Xchange, Inc. (GXI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mynt, the first and only $5 billion unicorn in the Philippines.

GCash is a staunch supporter of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly UN SDGs 5,8,10, and 13, which focus on safety & security, financial inclusion, diversity, equity, and inclusion as well as taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts, respectively.

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