Filipinos can now invest in Gov't Retail Treasury Bonds using PayMaya

Individual investors can avail of RTBs in the Bonds.Ph app using their PayMaya accounts

Digital financial services leader PayMaya has extended its financial inclusion mission into the retail investing space with the government's upcoming Retail Treasury Bonds offering.

Partnering with Bonds.Ph, a new online investment platform powered by the Philippine Digital Asset Exchange (PDAX), it will now allow small individual investors to avail of the government's next Retail Treasury Bond (RTB) offering using their PayMaya accounts.

To spread investment opportunities among the population, the Bureau of the Treasury has allowed the Bonds.Ph app to offer its newly-issued five-year bonds due 2025 to individual investors. Prospective investors can invest in amounts as low as P5,000 up to an aggregate of P500,000.

PayMaya account holders can easily add funds to their Bonds.ph accounts using their PayMaya-registered mobile numbers, thereby democratizing access to government RTBs even to those who do not yet have a bank account.

The Bureau of the Treasury targets to raise P30 billion from its five-year RTBs to be offered from July 16 to August 7 and to be settled on August 12. 

“We have always envisioned to provide Filipinos with affordable and secure investment instruments where they can invest and at the same time aid the government in raising funds especially at this time. So we opened up our next Retail Treasury Bond offering to an online platform like Bonds.Ph that allows investors to use e-wallets like PayMaya to invest in RTBs,” said National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon.

“Opening up various online channels that allows Filipinos to invest will ensure a wider participation from individual investors, particularly for this offering,” she added.

For his part, PayMaya Founder and CEO Orlando B. Vea said: “This is a new exciting path that the government is taking towards financial inclusion and we are delighted to be chosen as an enabling technology partner."

PayMaya account holders simply need to download the Bonds.Ph app from the App Store for iOS users and Google Play Store for Android Users, register and verify their accounts, and easily cash in using their PayMaya-registered mobile numbers.

To add funds to your Bonds.Ph account using PayMaya, simply follow these steps:

1. Go to the Cash In section of the app and select Pay with PayMaya. A minimal fee of P5.00 per transaction will apply.
2. Choose the amount you want to cash in, then complete the payment process after receiving the payment details in your email.
3. Once your account has been funded, choose the bond offering you want to invest in, review the transaction details, and click "Buy"
4. The subscription will have an “Awaiting Subscription” status until the final allocation is completed. All orders are considered final upon placement and can no longer be cancelled.

To check the status of your investment, click the "My Orders" button in the Bonds.Ph app. An email will also be sent to you for the notice of successful purchase of the Bond.

Once the investment has matured, you may also choose to withdraw the proceeds from your Bonds.Ph account straight to your PayMaya account. Simply choose PayMaya as the account where you will cash out your earnings. There is a minimal fee of P5 for every cash out transaction made through your PayMaya account.

To start investing in government RTBs through the Bonds.Ph app even without a bank account, create a PayMaya account today. Simply download the app using this link https://official.paymaya.com/CAK1/425eb133 and register for an account using only your mobile number. 

To know more about how to fast-track the groundwork towards a more progressive and digital government, visit http://enterprise.paymaya.com or send an email to gov@paymaya.com for further details.  

PayMaya is the only end-to-end digital payments ecosystem enabler in the Philippines with platforms and services that cut across consumers, merchants, and government. Aside from providing payments acceptance for the largest e-Commerce, food, retail and gas merchants in the Philippines, PayMaya enables national and social services agencies as well as local government units with digital payments and disbursement services.   

Through its app and wallet, PayMaya provides millions of Filipinos with the fastest way to own a financial account with over 40,000 Add Money touchpoints nationwide, more than double the total number of traditional bank branches in the Philippines combined. Its Smart Padala by PayMaya network of over 30,000 partner touchpoints nationwide serves as last mile digital financial hubs in communities, providing the unbanked and underserved with access to services. To know more about PayMaya's products and services, visit www.PayMaya.com or follow @PayMayaOfficial on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. 

PLDT, KKR, Tencent, IFC and IFC Emerging Asia Fund commit up to US$120mn of new investments in the Philippines’ Voyager Innovations

• Follow-on investments from PLDT, KKR, Tencent, IFC and IFC Emerging Asia Fund support the Company’s growth strategy
• New funding to accelerate thrust of  Voyager’s PayMaya to provide digital financial access to all Filipinos

MANILA, PHILIPPINES – April 6, 2020 – PLDT Inc. (NYSE: PHI|PSE: TEL), the Philippines’ leading telecommunications and digital services provider, KKR, a global investment firm, Tencent, a leading provider of internet value-added services in China, IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and the IFC Emerging Asia Fund, a fund managed by IFC Asset Management Company, today announced the signing of agreements under which PLDT, KKR, Tencent, IFC and IFC Emerging Asia Fund commit up to US$120 million in new funding towards the expansion efforts of Voyager Innovations (“Voyager” or the “Company”), a leading technology company in the Philippines.

This follows KKR’s, Tencent’s, IFC’s and IFC Emerging Asia Fund’s initial investments totaling US$215 million made to Voyager in 2018, and underscores the investors’ support of Voyager and its strategy to provide greater access to digital financial services across the Philippines through its financial technology arm, PayMaya Philippines (“PayMaya”). The fresh funding also comes as government, businesses and consumers are turning to cashless transactions and digital finance as part of a broader response to present-day challenges.

This US$120 million investment is part of a broader fundraise for Voyager and is intended to support PayMaya’s rapid growth as it pursues its mission to accelerate digital and financial inclusion in the Philippines and enable the wider Filipino population to participate in the digital economy. The Company is also in talks with other strategic and financial investors.

PLDT, KKR, IFC, IFC Emerging Asia Fund and Tencent said in a joint statement: “This fresh round of investment is a testament to Voyager’s success in providing Filipinos with access to convenient, relevant and inclusive digital financial services through PayMaya. This is also a recognition of the significant role that the Philippine financial technology industry can play in providing meaningful digital solutions to many of the crucial and very-human challenges that the Philippine community faces today.”

Orlando B. Vea, CEO and Founder of Voyager Innovations, said: “In line with the country’s goals, we have made significant strides in spurring cashless adoption in a largely unbanked population. This funding boosts PayMaya’s ability to reach more Filipinos, especially as access to digital financial services becomes even more important.”

Shailesh Baidwan, President of Voyager Innovations and PayMaya Philippines, said: “Today, more than ever, our end-to-end digital financial services are becoming more relevant and embedded in the daily lives of Filipinos - from sending money, buying airtime load, or paying for purchases through our PayMaya wallet, bridging the unbanked and underserved via mobile remittance through our over 27,000 Smart Padala partner touchpoints in communities, to enabling payment acceptance for all kinds of merchants. This investment will enable us to better support our financial inclusion thrust, while allowing us to expand to adjacent services.”

Voyager’s PayMaya is the only end-to-end digital payments ecosystem enabler in the Philippines with platforms and services that cuts across consumers, merchants, and government. Aside from providing the payments acceptance for the largest e-Commerce, food, retail and gas merchants in the Philippines, PayMaya is enabling national and social services agencies as well as local government units with digital payments and disbursement services.

Through its PayMaya app and wallet, it is providing millions of Filipinos with the fastest way to own a financial account with over 40,000 Add Money touchpoints nationwide, more than double the total number of traditional bank branches in the Philippines combined. Its Smart Padala by PayMaya agent network serves as last mile digital financial hubs in communities, providing the unbanked and underserved with access to services.  

Most recently, Voyager’s PayMaya launched its #OneAgainstCOVID19 drive to enable donations online, via mobile app, and QR to help various humanitarian organizations such as the Philippine Red Cross, UNICEF, Oxfam Pilipinas, UP PGH Medical Foundation, and Caritas Manila in relief efforts for the most vulnerable segments of the Philippine population affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

KKR’s follow-on investment in Voyager Innovations is being funded from KKR Asian Fund III.

***** 

ABOUT PLDT

PLDT is the leading telecommunications provider in the Philippines. Through its principal business groups--fixed line and wireless--PLDT offers a wide range of telecommunications services across the Philippines’ most extensive fiber optic backbone and fixed line, and mobile network. PLDT is listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE: TEL) and its American Depositary Shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:PHI). PLDT has one of the largest market capitalizations among Philippine listed companies. Further information can be obtained by visiting the web at www.pldt.com.

ABOUT VOYAGER INNOVATIONS AND PAYMAYA PHILIPPINES

Voyager Innovations, Inc. is the leading technology company in the Philippines, focused on customer-centric emerging market platforms for digital and financial inclusion. Its digital financial services arm, PayMaya Philippines (PayMaya), uniquely offers the widest range of integrated payments solutions for merchants and consumers. PayMaya has two key businesses:

• PayMaya Enterprise enables all types of merchants to accept online and face-to-face payments through a unique proprietary end-to-end payments ecosystem (gateway, processing, and acquiring for several schemes including Visa, Mastercard, and JCB).
  
   
• PayMaya Consumer provides Filipinos with convenient access to digital financial services through PayMaya, the most recognized prepaid e-wallet and digital payments app, and via Smart Padala, leading remittance network in the country.

 For more information, visit paymaya.com.

ABOUT KKR
KKR is a leading global investment firm that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate and credit, with strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns for its fund investors by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people, and driving growth and value creation with KKR portfolio companies. KKR invests its own capital alongside the capital it manages for fund investors and provides financing solutions and investment opportunities through its capital markets business. References to KKR's investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE: KKR), please visit KKR's website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.

ABOUT TENCENT
Tencent uses technology to enrich the lives of Internet users. Our social products WeChat and QQ link our users to a rich digital content catalogue including games, video, music and books. Our proprietary targeting technology helps advertisers reach out to hundreds of millions of consumers in China. Our infrastructure services including payment, security, cloud and artificial intelligence create differentiated offerings and support our partners’ business growth. Tencent invests heavily in people and innovation, enabling us to evolve with the Internet.

Tencent was founded in Shenzhen, China, in 1998. Shares of Tencent (0700.HK) are traded on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. For more information about Tencent, please visit www.tencent.com.

ABOUT IFC
IFC—a sister organization of the World Bank and member of the World Bank Group—is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. We work with more than 2,000 businesses worldwide, using our capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities where they are needed most. In fiscal year 2019, we delivered more than $19 billion in long-term financing for developing countries, leveraging the power of the private sector to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. For more information, visit www.ifc.org.

ABOUT IFC ASSET MANAGEMENT COMPANY
IFC Asset Management Company (AMC), a division of IFC, mobilizes and manages capital to invest in businesses in developing and frontier markets. Created in 2009, AMC provides leading institutional investors with unique access to IFC’s emerging markets investment pipeline and investment expertise, while providing positive development impact in the countries in which it invests. AMC funds’ investors include sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, and development-finance institutions. It has raised approximately $10 billion across 13 investment funds covering equity, debt, and fund-of-fund products. For more information, visit www.ifcamc.org

Stay Connected

www.ifc.org/eastasia

www.twitter.com/IFC_EAP 
www.youtube.com/IFCvideocasts 
www.ifc.org/SocialMediaIndex

www.instagram.com\ifc_org

www.facebook.com/IFCeap

www.facebook.com/IFCwbg

MEDIA CONTACTS:

PLDT
Ramon R. Isberto
rrisberto@pldt.com.ph

Voyager Innovations/ PayMaya Philippines
Nick Bautista Wilwayco
nick.wilwayco@paymaya.com

KKR
Anita Davis
Anita.Davis@KKR.com

Tencent
Jane Yip
janeyip@tencent.com/ ir@tencent.com

IFC and IFC Asset Management Company

Rachel Nalus

rnalus@ifc.org

Could Your Business Benefit from Corporate Hospitality?

Most of us have heard of corporate hospitality but you may be unaware of the huge range of advantages it has to offer. This article reveals more about corporate events and enables you to make the most of this opportunity for your business.

If you have never considered corporate hospitality days or events for your business before, you could be missing a trick. There are lots of opportunities to indulge in this area to enhance your business, as well as your relationships with your employees and your clients.

There are many different corporate events that you can treat clients to, mostly based around sport. Football is a sport that naturally lends itself well to the hiring of corporate boxes that come with food and drink thrown in (most Premier League and a number of Championship clubs have the stadium facilities to offer this type of experience to those willing to pay for it), and horse racing is not far behind – the likes of Aintree, Epsom and Cheltenham all have corporate packages and facilities available for visitors to sign up for as a way of making their day out extra special.

 

The one tripping point many business owners see is the fact that they have to pay to enjoy corporate hospitality. Cheltenham racecourse, Wimbledon tennis and all manner of football venues – these all provide great choices when it comes to hospitality, but they all cost money. However if this is how you are looking at the situation you should look to the long term instead.

The key focus when you are looking at investing in this area is to look at the long term picture instead of the short term one. You’ll notice I used the word ‘investing’ there as well. It’s well worth making sure you have the ability to change your mindset if you see every penny you spend as an expense. When it comes to corporate hospitality Cheltenham based or anywhere else, you are investing in the future relationships. These will help to provide more income for your business, which isn’t a bad thing.

You can take your day at Cheltenham to the next level by adding transport to the racecourse via its vintage steam-powered train to your package. While you can drive to the venue, the traffic around the area on race days can be extremely busy and delay your arrival – when you’re paying more than you normally would for the experience, you don’t want to waste a minute! Instead, why not park at Toddington station, enjoy the live band on the platform and cruise to the racecourse on a beautifully restored train with a buffet and bar to keep you and your party suitably refreshed? The journey takes about thirty minutes at a leisurely pace through some of the most attractive countryside that Britain has to offer.

Many business owners tend to add corporate hospitality events to their regular annual marketing expenditure because they work. If they do it regularly it must mean they are getting results – otherwise why spend the money? Keep this in mind when you are considering booking such an event for your target audience in order to get the results you want to.

Binary Options are your Secure Future or even Present

More and more people are joining the binary options trading. For some people it is just a kind of a game, but for others it is a real chance to get a good income. There are numerous examples of how ordinary people earn several thousand dollars with the help of binary options. Binary options allow you to start trading with only $ 5 at your disposal. At the same time you have the opportunity to earn up to 100% of profit from the sum you’ve invested in just a few minutes! Binary options is a great choice for beginners because they are really transparent: you always know exactly how much you can earn or lose in the result of the transaction. With this you can get back up to 20% of invested funds even if your prediction did not come true

Callandput.com is the world's largest trading platform for trading binary options. It is the most professional and most reliable company offering online trading. They offer a progressive trading platform for binary options enabling their customers to make positive and negative fluctuations in the financial markets. Trading with callandput.com is quick and easy to master. Experience is not necessary, you can learn how to trade binary options with callandput.com trading platform quickly and their products are equally suitable for beginners and professionals.

The operation principle of binary options is very simple. After you select the basic assets, you make your prediction about the motion of the price: whether it is going to increase (Call) or fall (Put) to a certain date called expiry date. While trading binary options your profit is strictly fixed and no matter whether the price increased in 50 points or just in one item, you still get your 70 % - 85 % profit. This is a huge advantage of trading binary options, which many people who previously traded in the Forex market, appreciate now.

You can change your financial situation for the better today. If you are an ambitious person, you are hardly satisfied with your income. How can you increase it? With binary options! Binary option is a tool with high-yield operations.

Binary option is a contract that depends on fulfilling certain conditions in a limited time. It provides a certain income or no income at all. The name "binary" means that it consists of two parts - one part gets profit, the other doesn’t.

Recently, binary options are becoming an increasingly popular tool of trading. The main advantages are: the possible gains and losses are known at the time the contract is made, binary options trading does not require deep knowledge in finance and occurs based on a single parameter - the price change. If the conditions of the binary options are fulfilled, the investor receives the maximum profit, if not - the profit is zero. This is the least risky tool of work on the exchange. Trading binary options is much easier even with the same currency pairs as at the Forex market. Binary options are the simple commercial products. You do not have to learn a special literature (you can if you want, it is not forbidden).  The practice shows that half an hour is enough for any beginner to understand the basics of trading. You have a real opportunity to earn from 70 % to 85 % of profit with each transaction. Here comes the following conclusion: trading binary options is simple.

The only indicator you pay attention to is the price changes. Follow the news that may affect the price of the assets. Thus, the presidential elections in a particular country may affect the price of oil and the cost of meat products depends on the epidemic among animals.

Price fluctuations do not affect revenues. Profit depends on what decision in the trading process you take – “call” or “put”. In binary options trading the profit is considerable. It can reach 85 %. For example, you choose "call" or "put" option and it coincided with the actual result. For your initial deposit of $ 100 you will add $ 85 of an immediate income. Your account will be $ 185.