Imagine yourself commuting one day and you felt really hungry, and you see this Minute Burger stall where you buy a burger by just tapping your card or scanning a code. Later, you ride a bus, and to pay for the fare, you just tapped your card. Then you have to transfer to MRT on the way to Makati, again you tapped your card to pay. Super convenient, right?
I was in Hong Kong recently and one of the good things I experienced is how locals and tourist pay for goods and services. What amazed me is that cashless payments are so widespread you can virtually buy anything by tapping your Octopus Card!
Yes, I know. you can do that with your debit card, credit card, and we have our own version from different competing companies such as Globe and Smart. But the difference there in Hong Kong is that you can use only one card to pay for everything! And the payment terminals are available everywhere! Yes, retail shops, fast food, food kiosks, trains, MTRs, everywhere!
How I wish that is the case here in the Philippines. There should be a universal payment portal, regardless of the card issuer. How hard can that be? We already have the technology available so what the hell are they waiting for?
Right now, we have competing companies, such as Globe's G-Cash, Smart's Paymaya, Beep Cards, and some other companies who wanted a piece of the pie. And now, they are scratching their heads why Filipinos are too slow in adopting these services. The Answer is right in front of them. They need to make sure that vendors micro, medium or large they may be, should have their own payment portal. Again imagine a Balot bender who accepts cash-less payment? Far fetched? I don't think so. If the vendor has a smartphone and access to cheap internet data where he can use his accounts, it is possible!
So here's my suggestion: All big companies engaged in financial tech should create a consortium to give cashless payment portals to all types of vendors. They work out their inter-operability and all that shit and roll it out. Then they will see an influx of cardholders who don't want to keep a large amount of cash in their wallets.
