Western Union exec fan of Phl digitalization

An official of an international money transfer operator considers the Philippines as among the leaders in the payment system digitalization field.

Western Union president for Middle East and Asia Pacific Jean Claude Farah said governments around the globe have launched efforts toward digitization "with more or less success because many have talked about it but few have succeeded doing it."

He, on the other, noted that in the Philippines "this is already taking place, this is no longer a dream, a bargain or objective."

"You guys are digitizing your remittance industry much more than the global industry," he said.

For one, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is aiming for a 50 percent share of digital payments to total transactions by 2023.

Farah noted that the government, in general, is also pushing for the digitalization of government processes, thus, "you are way down, down that road."

Effort to ease lives supported

"As far as Western Union is concerned, we are always in support of any government effort that goes into making consumers' lives easier," he said.

However, gains towards this goal is not being experienced by everybody, results of the latest survey commissioned by Western Union showed.

Results of the survey showed that around 44 percent of the 2,000 consumers who participated in the survey said they prefer to receive money transfers through digital platforms but around 70 percent wanted to be able to choose how to collect it — whether in cash or digitally.