GCash’s new top-up solution enables direct funding from overseas within digital wallets

MANILA, Philippines and LONDON, Nov. 6, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Thunes, the Smart Superhighway to move money around the world, today announced a new collaboration with GCash, the leading digital wallet in the Philippines. This ground-breaking initiative enables GCash users to top up their wallet balances directly within the app using funds from their U.K. and European bank accounts. This collaboration makes cross-border top-ups real-time and more cost efficient, offering GCash users in Europe more convenience and financial control.

About 2 million Filipino expatriates live and work in Europe and maintain ties to the Philippines. Those who own a GCash digital wallet can now better support their relatives back home by topping up their wallet instantly, and by ensuring that the money is used as intended, whether for education, healthcare, or household expenses. This innovative initiative highlights the importance that Thunes and GCash place on financial inclusion and community empowerment by helping people improve financial oversight and spending management.

As a Member of Thunes’ proprietary Direct Global Network, leveraging its SmartX Treasury System and Fortress Compliance Platform, GCash enjoys unrivaled speed, control, visibility, protection, and cost efficiencies for their customers’ cross-border account top-ups within their GCash account.

Paul Albano, General Manager of GCash International, said, “We are delighted to be a Member of Thunes’ Direct Global Network, to enable GCash users to top up their accounts instantly from their overseas bank accounts. This service will support hundreds of thousands of Filipinos in the U.K. and Europe by improving how they move money across borders into their digital wallets with better control over their finances. In this way, Filipinos living abroad can better utilize GCash to maintain ties with their home communities.”

Floris de Kort, CEO of Thunes, added, “We are expanding our collaboration with GCash, a long-standing valued Member of our Direct Global Network, to transform digital wallet top-ups. Through Thunes’ Direct Global Network, we are now delivering an instant top-up service that simplifies cross-border transactions. Our alliance with GCash is a testament to our passion for innovation, the versatility of our proprietary network, and our dedication to financial inclusion through money movement around the world.”

Notes to Editors:
Many Filipinos have strong family ties and business relationships back in the Philippines. Filipinos utilize GCash to pay bills, goods and services, friends and family, and obtain financing. The wallet facilitates purpose-driven payments to pay medical bills, housing costs and education.
GCash has helped enable unbanked and underbanked Filipinos take part in the internet and gig economy, spurring financial inclusion.

According to the World Bank, the Philippines has the fourth largest market worldwide for inbound remittances, with $39 billion sent in 2024. In 2024, Europe sent $3.8 billion to the Philippines.

About Thunes:
Thunes is the Smart Superhighway to move money around the world. Thunes’ proprietary Direct Global Network allows Members to make payments in real-time in over 130 countries and more than 80 currencies. Thunes’ Network connects directly to over 7 billion mobile wallets and bank accounts worldwide, as well as 15 billion cards via more than 320 different payment methods, such as GCash, M-Pesa, Airtel, MTN, Orange, JazzCash, Easypaisa, AliPay, WeChat Pay and many more. Thunes’ Direct Global Network differentiates itself through its worldwide reach, in-house SmartX Treasury System and Fortress Compliance Platform, ensuring Members of the Network receive unrivaled speed, control, visibility, protection, and cost efficiencies when making real-time payments, globally. Members of Thunes’ Direct Global Network include gig economy giants like Uber and Deliveroo, super-apps like Grab and WeChat, MTOs, fintechs, PSPs and banks. Headquartered in Singapore, Thunes has offices in 15 locations, including Abidjan, Barcelona, Beijing, Dubai, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, London, Manila, Nairobi, Paris, Riyadh, San Francisco, Sao Paulo and Shanghai. For more information, visit: https://www.thunes.com/

About GCash

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GCash is the Philippines’ #1 Finance Super App and Largest Cashless Ecosystem. Through the GCash App, users can easily purchase prepaid airtime; pay bills via partner billers nationwide; send and receive money anywhere in the Philippines, even to other bank accounts; purchase from over 6 million partner merchants and social sellers; and get access to savings, credit, loans, insurance and invest money, and so much more, all at the convenience of their smartphones. Its mobile wallet operations are handled by G-Xchange, Inc. (GXI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mynt, the first and only $5 billion unicorn in the Philippines.

GCash is a staunch supporter of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly UN SDGs 5,8,10, and 13, which focus on safety & security, financial inclusion, diversity, equity, and inclusion as well as taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts, respectively.

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Global UnionPay Cards Now Support Weixin Pay and Alipay

SHANGHAI, Nov. 6, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — UnionPay International (UPI) announced that Alipay and Weixin payments are fully enabled for UnionPay cards issued outside China’s mainland, providing more diversified, convenient and inclusive payment options for inbound travelers to China. The collaboration with Weixin Pay is supported through the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).

In order to further optimize payment services, UnionPay launched Project Excellence 2024 in March, joining hands with various industry stakeholders to build a convenient, inclusive, and accessible payment ecosystem. This collaboration is the latest achievement of the Project. From now on, international travelers to China can download Alipay or Wexin applications, link their local UnionPay cards, and enjoy the same convenience of QR payments as the Chinese users do.

This innovative payment method will provide more convenience for inbound visitors to pay in China: No service fee will apply throughout the payment process as initial promotion, which enables users to make payments as if they were at home. Online and offline use cases are covered, including F&B, accommodation, transit, sightseeing, shopping and entertainment. The new method supports consumer-presented, merchant-presented, in-app payment and ETC, which removes the payment barriers for users who are travelling, working or living in China. The new enablement is easy to use, as cardholders only need to enter the UnionPay card information required, and complete the linking process once the card issuer performs the authentication.

This collaboration manifests UPI’s stepped-up efforts to work with other industry stakeholders to promote payment interoperability and develop a sustainable business model. It will help to further bridge the differences in payment preference between China and the rest of the world, facilitate the country’s high-standard opening up.

UnionPay’s international business has become increasingly localized in the past few years, and more and more consumers outside China are enjoying the convenient services brought by UnionPay. Over 250 million UnionPay cards have been issued in 83 countries and regions outside China’s mainland, which can be used for payments in 183 countries and regions. UnionPay has also launched SplendorPlus, a new card product tailored to international visitors to China. The themed card, which comes with diverse benefits and special merchant offers in China, has proven to be highly popular.

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Nium becomes first fintech to join the blockchain-based network, enabling faster cross-border payments, added market reach, and greater transaction transparency

SINGAPORE, Nov. 5, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Nium, the leading global infrastructure for real-time cross-border payments, today announced a partnership with Partior, the blockchain-based fintech for clearing and settlement at the Singapore Fintech Festival 2024. The partnership makes Nium the first fintech payment service provider (PSP) on the Partior network. Financial institutions will be able to connect with Nium via Partior for 24×7, transparent, real-time payouts, clearing, and settlement to over 100 markets worldwide. Importantly, the connection will require no additional API integration work, streamlining what historically took months of resource-intensive work.

This new partnership builds on Nium’s recent strategy to connect more networks to its real-time payments’ infrastructure. By joining the Partior network, Nium is extending its connectivity to one of the most innovative networks in the industry. Partior’s blockchain-powered platform effectively resolves longstanding inefficiencies in global payments, such as settlement delays, high costs, and limited transaction transparency. In today’s global landscape, where companies operate around the clock, effective liquidity management is essential for both corporate and financial institutions. This collaboration allows Nium to offer its clients the ability to execute real-time multi-currency payments and Payments versus Payments (PvP) settlements, further simplifying access to its global payments network.

“Nium’s partnership with Partior brings us closer to becoming the most connected payments network globally. By integrating with advanced networks, such as Partior, we are ensuring that financial institutions can quickly and easily access our real-time payments infrastructure without the need for complex technical integrations,” said Alexandra Johnson, Chief Payments Officer at Nium. “Recognizing how resource-constrained financial institutions are, we’re eliminating barriers to using our network and increasing interoperability to deliver on our mission of having seamless and streamlined real-time payments to anyone, anywhere.”

Humphrey Valenbreder, Chief Executive Officer at Partior said, “Partnering with Nium marks a significant step in our journey to further advance the global payments landscape. By combining Partior’s real-time blockchain settlement network with Nium’s vast global reach, we’re empowering financial institutions to break down long-standing barriers. Imagine a world where cross-border payments are instantaneous, transparent, and accessible to all. This is the future we’re building together.”

As part of its continued expansion, Nium’s partnership with Partior enhances its ability to facilitate frictionless global transactions and unlock new services such as intra-day FX swaps, cross-currency repos, programmable enterprise liquidity management, and Just-in-Time multi-bank payments for financial institutions worldwide.

Nium’s growing network, supported by these strategic partnerships, is setting a new standard for how financial institutions can access and benefit from global payments, paving the way for a more efficient and transparent financial ecosystem.

About Nium

Nium, the leading global infrastructure for real-time cross-border payments, was founded on the mission to deliver the global payments infrastructure of tomorrow, today. With the onset of the global economy, its payments infrastructure is shaping how banks, fintechs, and businesses everywhere collect, convert, and disburse funds instantly across borders. Its payout network supports 100 currencies and spans 220+ markets, 100 of which in real-time. Funds can be disbursed to accounts, wallets, and cards and collected locally in 40 markets. Nium’s growing card issuance business is already available in 34 countries. Nium holds regulatory licenses and authorizations in more than 40 countries, enabling seamless onboarding, rapid integration, and compliance – independent of geography. The company is co-headquartered in San Francisco and Singapore.

About Partior

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Partior, the blockchain-based fintech for clearing and settlement, is redefining the way value moves globally. Founded in 2021, Partior is backed by founding shareholders DBS, J.P. Morgan, Standard Chartered, and Temasek, and Series B lead investor Peak XV. Partior is addressing the operating inefficiencies experienced by industry players, including settlement delays, limited transaction transparency and high operating costs, and facilitates the movement of liquidity for financial institutions and their customers. Its network offers real-time multi-currency payments, and Payments versus Payments (PvP) settlement. Additionally, it is exploring new services including Intra-day swaps, Delivery versus Payments (DvP) settlement and enterprise solutions.

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