Jack Ma optimistic PH could be world’s best in fintech

Chris Schnabel
Published 8:45 PM, October 25, 2017
Updated 9:13 PM, October 25, 2017
https://www.rappler.com/business/186396-jack-ma-philippines-fintech

While being interviewed by Presidential Adviser on Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion in Manila on Wednesday, October 25, Ma recounted how Alibaba’s Alipay service, now the world’s largest payment platform, was born out of a similar situation in his native China.”We don’t have a vast credit card system in China. In the last 15 years, people kept criticizing us, saying, ‘How can you make people [pay] for things online? You don’t have enough checks, credit cards, or banks. How would it work?'” he recounted.

“It’s because we didn’t have all of these that we ended up making the most advanced digital payments ecosystem in the world,” he added.

It’s that experience that leads the Chinese tycoon to believe the Philippines could follow and even improve upon the example Alibaba set 15 years ago by leveraging on the growing ubiquity of mobile commerce.

“The Philippines has the opportunity to develop the best fintech services in the world because you have so many mobile phones. You have 7,000 islands and it’s impossible for banks to have branches everywhere, but mobile phone coverage is everywhere,” Ma explained.

“The Philippines should be a cashless society. When it goes cashless, you also eliminate corruption,” he added.

Earlier this year, Alibaba subsidiary Ant Financial entered into a joint venture with Globe Telecom through a strategic investment in Globe’s fintech arm Mynt, which handles GCash. – Rappler.com