By the staff
The Palawan Group of Companies is seeing rapid adoption of its mobile app, which now counts about 22 million users, as more Filipinos shift to digital money transfers.
Karlo Castro, chief executive officer, said a “sizable percentage” of users are active, though he declined to provide exact figures. The Palawan Pay app, launched in 2021, added 2 million users this year alone.
“The usage is really growing in the triple digits as a percentage. And with additional features, we can see that the usage actually increases. So, I’ll leave it at the trajectory of not just registered users, but also the number of people who are actually actively using the app,” Castro said.
On remittances, he noted the trend is upward. “If you combine the over-the-counter remittances and the digital remittances, the trend is growing. Digital is about a quarter of our transactions already,” he said, highlighting the shift toward mobile channels.
Lilian Castro-Selda, vice chair and chief financial officer, said the partnership with global remittance firm Ria Payment Institution E.P. SAU, officially launched Wednesday, has already been operating for months.
“The numbers have really been very good without actual media launch… we’re fairly happy with the way it’s growing,” she said.
Steve Peregrino, Ria’s regional director for business development in Asia Pacific, framed the collaboration as part of the Philippines’ global influence.
“We are all over the place in a very good way. We take pride empowering the growth of economies and nations… the Philippines, one way or another, has a hand in the growth of every single economy in the world. I guess we can just be very proud in that place,” he said.
