GCash: 20 years of transformative financial inclusion in the Philippines

GCash, the Philippines’ leading finance super app and cashless ecosystem, marks a key milestone in its journey towards driving digital financial inclusion as it celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

In the early 2000s, Globe Telecom had a vision of sending money via SMS, which at that time was unthinkable to many Filipinos—until GCash was born. Launched in 2004, GCash began as the SMS money transfer service of Globe Telecom.

After two years, GCash recorded its first 1 million users. GCash then innovated its services to empower overseas Filipino workers, introducing a domestic remittance across over 18,000 outlets through GCash Remit in 2010. GCash also came out with a customizable GCash card in 2010.

It was in 2012 when GCash turned into the app that is now widely used and loved by millions across the country. As the Philippines’ first e-wallet mobile app, GCash had the capability for money transfer, load, and bills payment. The rest is history.

Powering up innovations

Fueled by the drive to serve even more Filipinos, especially the underserved and unserved, GCash had undergone changes and significant investments through the years. In 2015, GCash’s parent company Mynt was established, as a fintech start-up partnership among Globe Telecom, Ayala Corporation, and Ant Financial. In 2017, GCash partnered with Ant Financial, which enabled GCash to release the Philippines’ first-ever mobile money QR payment.

Being at the forefront of innovation, GCash has constantly been introducing more financial services for Filipinos beyond payments and transfers. In 2019, it introduced GSave for savings, GCredit for lending, and GCash Invest Money (now GInvest) for investments.

To date, there are now 10.9 million GSave users. Moreover, GLoan, GCash’s lending service, has disbursed more than Php155 million worth of loans for 5.4 million Filipinos. Meanwhile, GInvest has redefined investing for many Filipinos. GCash drove an 11% growth in accounts at the Philippine Stock Exchange, with one out of five PSE accounts coming from the finance app.

GCash has evolved from being a provider of digital payment services into a full-blown platform with a wide suite of financially-inclusive products for all Filipinos, and a leader in sparking change in the fintech sector.

GForest now the Philippines’ biggest digital eco-movement

GCash has evolved into an active player on climate action, going beyond being a provider of digital financial services. In 2019, GCash launched GForest, which enables users to collect and use ‘green energy’ points to plant virtual trees, which will then be converted into actual trees on their behalf. GForest has since grown into the country’s biggest digital eco-movement with more than 2.8 million trees planted across the country, supporting the livelihood of local communities.

‘Finance For All’

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, most businesses’ operations were disrupted. As the Philippines grappled with contactless interactions and stringent lockdowns, GCash shaped the digital payments landscape as it is known today. It became a lifeline and life hack for millions of Filipinos. GCash partnered with the government to enable the disbursement of cash assistance to those who needed it the most, totaling Php16 billion.

As of 2023, GCash has 94 million users, including demographics that are traditionally unbanked, underbanked, and underserved, such as women in local communities, farmers, fisherfolk, wet market vendors, tricycle drivers, among others. This demonstrates GCash’s commitment to meaningful and responsive services for all Filipinos in line with the vision of Finance For All.

GCash is now accelerating its overseas expansion. This year, GCash announced the availability of GCash Overseas to Filipinos in 16 key markets globally. With GCash Overseas, Filipinos in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Germany, Qatar, Kuwait, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Australia can now download and use the GCash app, whether they have Philippine SIMs or local mobile phone numbers in the countries or territories where they live.

With this growth, GCash has emerged to become the first-ever $5 billion unicorn in the Philippines, backed by Ayala Corporation and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. GCash continues to make history throughout the years in the fintech space.

“We are part of the every day of every Filipino,” GCash President and CEO Martha Sazon, acknowledging GCash users at the company’s 20th anniversary celebrations. “Thank you for all the support and the partnership. We promise to give you the service that you deserve, and we will support you all the way.”