Lifestyle | GCash-BPI Partnership Easier to Retail Investments and Financial Services

GCash and BPI are among the providers that I usually use for my transactions to pay bills, buy load and savings. It is great to know that GCash and BPI strengthens their partnership, both under the Ayala Group umbrella, to further reach consumers needing services for retail investments and other financial services. So, here's a story of their partnership:

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GCash-BPI partnership enhances accessibility to retail investments, financial services

 

Leading mobile wallet company GCash recently teamed up with the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), one of the biggest banks in the country, to further broaden its retail offerings and provide customers with more opportunities to grow their funds.

 

This follows GCash’s move to make it possible for Filipinos to avail of retail investment offers for as low as P50 through GInvest, the investment marketplace featured on the app.

 

Through its partnership with BPI, GCash now gives its customers the opportunity to invest in BPI Investment Management Inc.’s (BIMI) ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund (GMAIF) and the Philippine Stock Index Fund under GInvest. Customers can therefore start investing for as low as P1,000 in ALFM GMAIF, a US dollar-denominated feeder fund that provides a stable stream of dividends and generates long-term capital growth.

 

“We are grateful for this partnership with BPI as we look forward to more collaboration between fintech and financial institutions moving forward. We are hoping this can help us broaden investment opportunities for Filipinos. By democratizing our products and making it more affordable and easier to understand, we can change the mindset that financial services such as investment funds and products are only for the wealthy,” said Martha Sazon, President and CEO of GCash.

 

BPI’s ALFM GMAIF presents a sound financial option given that it invests at least 90 percent of its assets into a single collective scheme, with investments including fixed income and equities. The funds are in turn managed by BlackRock, Inc., the world’s largest asset manager and one of the leading asset managers globally. Top holdings of ALFM include international companies such as Citigroup, Sanofi, JP Morgan, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, and high yielding fixed income securities, among others.

 

Aside from the ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund, GInvest users can also place a buy order for as low as P50 in the Philippine Stock Index Fund, which tracks the performance of the Philippine Stock Exchange index. Its top holdings include SM, Ayala, and BDO. Both BIMI funds are suitable for investors with aggressive risk appetites and have a five-year investment horizon.

 

GCash also has an existing partnership with ATR Asset Management Group (ATRAM), which manages some of the best-performing funds in the country such as mutual funds, trust assets, insurance portfolios, and real estate for proprietary and third-party clients.

 

Banks and other Electronic Money Issuers (EMIs) have seen GCash as a valued partner in expanding their retail investment offerings, an indicator of the trust placed by local financial institutions in the fintech company.

 

 

“The value of fintech is being realized in retail finance; GCash is here to support financial institutions in expanding their offerings digitally through the 51 million Filipinos that use our app,” added Sazon.

 

These latest funds bring GInvest’s fund offerings to seven, along with Money Market Fund, the Philippine Total Return Bond Fund, the Philippine Smart Equity Index Fund, the Global Technology Feeder Fund, and the Global Consumer Trends Fund. These affordable rates of P50 for local funds and P1,000 for international funds make GInvest by GCash one of the financial technology companies that offer low investment buy-ins.

 

The expanded investment opportunities have given unbanked Filipinos access to financial opportunities previously unavailable to them and brought GCash closer to its goal of achieving financial inclusion for all Filipinos.

 

For more information, visit www.gcash.com.

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#PlsSaveMe : Payout was Real

Long List of Payables

There’s this place unofficially dubbed as the “investment capital” in Davao. Yes, a lot of people were enticed to invest since they were promised to have a return of double, triple, quadraple and more. A lot of these companies popped up like mushrooms anywhere in this area.

Dan, 33 years of age, a professional, living comfortably had become among those who got enticed with the investment. He completely knew that investment comes in two forms: solid and liquid investment. He got a house and car - both under loan agreement and then he tried to take a risk with the budding investment schemes.

One goal he had in mind was to pay his loans by paying religiously with his salary. Then, he wanted to pay it faster and thought of having another car if he gets lucky with the investment. Yes, he said of the IFs… More of the “if the investment prospers” and less with “if it is a scam” because you should think positive when you invest.

The investment did well for him and others. Constantly, he got payout and with his payout, he put it in again. Rolling as he said. Still in mind, paying the loans and have another car. Few of his friends and even family told him of keeping his capital so that whatever happens, he could still be at peace. Few more months and the investment was still doing good - everybody happy and some got lazy working and thought of “pay-in and pay-out” in everyday living.

Indeed, turn of tables happened. Many of these investment companies one by one got investigated and slowly closed down. Some owners had run away bringing the money of the investors. Dan, including many other investors, got anxious because he hadn’t gotten their payout yet and was able to put a huge amount of money wiping out his savings . More anxious that he got himself tied with his loans, no extra savings and there are many bills to pay - the investment companies stopped operations but bills continuously asked for payment.

The “investment capital” that was a hot spot for “investors” became “morally down”. People, including Dan, started to focus on their jobs. The streets with long queues of people from all walks of life for pay-in and pay-out were out of scene. Streets were again busy with tricycles running and got a glimpse of “poor-tuner”.

Dan even said that because of what happened there were some casualties due to some people’s desperateness to get back their investment. Indeed a dark times for the “investment capital”. People got angry out of their own greed.

Right now, people in the place are busy in their day to day life, including Dan. Dan said that he should have been contented; he should have invested only what he can afford to lose; and many other realizations. He even said that it still lingers in him that if ever the investment did not close, he could have paid up his loans earlier and have another car. Yet and yet, he and the rest others could only pray hard for refund since some companies did say of such act. But then again, the question remains WHEN. 

Take care of your hard earned money and put it in a scheme more familiar and safe. Understand where you put your money, too. Not all things that are too good to be true will last forever.

Disclaimer: The name of the respondent is changed, but the events that happened may be similar and familiar.

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