Remittance

GCash Partners with E9pay to Expand Remittances for Filipinos to South Korea

E-wallet GCash has announced its expansion into South Korea through a strategic partnership with Seoul-based broker E9pay. This collaboration aims to offer overseas Filipino workers a more efficient and cost-effective way to remit funds back home, tapping into the sizable Filipino community in South Korea.

Paul Albano

Paul Albano, General Manager of GCash International, emphasised the importance of this move, noting that it stands to benefit the substantial number of Filipinos living in South Korea.

With more than 60,000 Filipinos based there, according to immigration data, the partnership is set to make financial transactions smoother and quicker for the community. The foreign population in South Korea was recorded at 2.25 million in 2022, with Filipinos representing the sixth largest group.

The service simplifies the remittance process by requiring only the recipient’s phone number for funds to be transferred, ensuring that money reaches its destination within minutes or hours. This represents a significant improvement over methods traditionally used, which can take up to a day.

Jun Goo Hyok, CEO of E9pay, expressed optimism about the growth of the Filipino population in South Korea, particularly in light of plans to expand the Employment Permit System (EPS). This expansion is expected to meet the increasing manpower needs in various sectors, further integrating foreign workers into the South Korean economy.

Looking ahead, GCash and E9pay aim to extend their partnership beyond simple remittances to encompass a broader range of financial services. These would facilitate easier transactions between the Philippines and South Korea, including payments for hospital fees and tourist activities.

This initiative comes as tourism between the two countries shows robust figures, with South Korea receiving around 308,000 Filipino tourists as of November 2023. Meanwhile, the Philippines hosted 5.45 million visitors in 2023, with South Koreans making up a significant portion of these arrivals.

Further expanding its international footprint, GCash has also received approval from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to introduce its financial services to overseas Filipino workers in Europe and the Middle East, planning to launch in countries including Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, and Spain within the year.

Featured image credit: Edited from Freepik