Smart Money payments double in first semester

More Filipinos are forgoing traditional means of paying their utility bills, opting to complete their transactions using electronic wallets connected to their mobile phone. In the first half of 2012, Smart Money – the country’s first and largest electronic wallet service – recorded a doubling of bills payment transactions. Smart Financial Services Head Tricia Dizon said the transaction volume surged following the inclusion of Sun Cellular as one of Smart Money’s biller partners.

“We expect to sustain the upward trend as we add another company to our list of biller partners – Cignal Digital TV,” Dizon said. “Now, Cignal subscribers can settle their bills the convenient and secure way – by using the Smart Money menu on their mobile phone. They can pay their bills even after office hours and even when they are out of town. No more need to disrupt their schedule just to fall in line.”

Smart Money users can also use the bills payment service for hassle-free transactions with Smart Postpaid, PLDT, Meralco, Maynilad, Manila Water, Sky Cable, and NLEX Easy Trip.

“Unlike other mobile money service providers, Smart Money facilitates easy bills payment for practically all major utility companies in the country. We’re empowering our 50 million subscribers by giving them the option to settle their bills anytime and anywhere they want. It doesn’t matter if they own a smartphone or not – they can pay their bills using any mobile phone,” Dizon said.

To utilize the service, Smart Money users must first choose “Pay Bills” on their mobile phone’s Smart Money menu. Then they must key in the biller code of the company they are transacting with, type the billing account number, and indicate the amount they want to pay. The list of biller codes can be found in http://www1.smart.com.ph/Money/use/bills-payment or at the back of Smart billing statements.

Other transactions on the rise
Aside from making bills payment more convenient, Smart Money also enables its 10 million users – 10 times more than the competition’s – to do cashless shopping online and in more than 32 million MasterCard merchants worldwide, receive remittances from more than 95,000 partner-agents all over the world, reload their Smart prepaid account, link their Smart Money account to their accounts in major banks (BDO, Metrobank, BPI, etc.), and transfer funds electronically to other Smart Money users.

Among these services, person-to-person (P2P) money transfers were the most popular in the first half of the year, with usage levels increasing by 115% year-on-year.

“The doubling of P2P and bills payment transactions, combined with the marked increase in prepaid reloading, boosted the volume of overall Smart Money mobile transactions. This reflects the growing significance of Smart Money’s services to the daily lives of Filipinos,” Dizon said.

Those interested in Smart Money’s services can apply for a Smart Money card online (http://smart.com.ph/apply/money/apply.aspx) or visit any Smart Store or BDO branch with a valid ID and a Smart or Talk ‘N Text number.

For more information on Smart Money, please visit http://www.smart.com.ph/Money.

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