ASIA UNITED Bank (AUB) is set to launch its own digital wallet to take advantage of its customer base.
Maria Magdalena V. Surtida, AUB vice-president and credit cards business head, said the Ng-led bank will launch its own QR code-based payment system called AUB Pay.
“We will also have our own AUB Pay local wallet. We will also do that,” Ms. Surtida told BusinessWorld on Wednesday, adding that the lender wants to take advantage of its customer base.
“I think we need to because we have a bank customer base that we would like to take advantage so that they can also use AUB Pay in the same merchants we partnered with for WeChat Pay.”
Similar to WeChat Pay of China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd., AUB Pay will enable the bank’s partner merchants to accept digital payment from local customers.
“To the merchant, it’s more markets. So aside from accepting payments from Chinese tourists, they can now also accept payments from local customers via AUB Pay,” Ms. Surtida added.
Late last year, AUB signed a licensing agreement with Tencent to accredit Philippine merchants to accept payments using WeChat Pay’s QR code-based technology.
Ms. Surtida added in a text message that AUB’s partner merchants can accept payments from AUB Pay using the same platform for WeChat Pay.
Having their own digital wallet will be advantageous for its customer base, according to the bank’s credit card business head, since they do not need to transfer their funds to the already established local digital wallets such as GCash and PayMaya.
“It also means our own base base [doesn’t] need to transfer their funds to a PayMaya or GCash account.”
Ms. Surtida said that AUB Pay will be launched this year. “Give us a few months. It’s in the works already.”
AUB booked a net income of P2.8 billion in 2017, 23% higher than the P2.3 billion logged in the previous year, supported by growth across its businesses.
Shares of AUB closed at P55.59 apiece on Friday, up 30 centavos or 0.51%. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal

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