• Rajan Narayan, Regional Sales Director at Compass Plus Technologies


• 10.09.2025 09:45 am
#DigitalHubs #InclusivePayments

Cash is still king - and it’s holding people back

For millions of Filipinos, daily financial life still revolves around cash. Salary payments arrive in envelopes, bills are settled in person, and government aid requires long trips and queues. A large portion of the population works in the informal economy - from market vendors to day labourers - where digital payments are rarely an option and cash remains the only way to transact. Rural families spend precious time and money just to receive remittances, while merchants lose out because digital payment options aren’t widely accepted.

This reliance on cash isn’t just inconvenient - it limits opportunity. It keeps people excluded from the speed, security, and economic benefits of real-time digital payments.

Why cooperatives are central to the solution

Across the country, cooperatives have been the backbone of financial life for decades. With more than 24,000 registered entities serving millions of members, coops aren’t just service providers - they’re trusted community institutions built on relationships and familiarity.

Many already handle:

• Member onboarding and basic KYC

• Distributing loans and savings

• Facilitating government fund disbursement

• Acting as intermediaries for remittances and community credit

In practice, they already operate as access points to financial services. The challenge? They remain disconnected from the national digital payments infrastructure.

The gap: Offline trust, online exclusion

Despite their reach and reliability, most cooperatives remain cut off from digital payment rails. Transactions are still overwhelmingly cash-based, with members lining up to deposit or withdraw funds. Settlement delays add friction, leaving people waiting days for money to clear. And because merchants and members alike lack access to QR codes, e-wallets, or account-to-account transfers, everyday commerce stays stuck in cash.

The result is a system where cooperatives remain trusted, but digitally sidelined - and the very communities that rely on them most are excluded from the speed, security, and opportunity that real-time digital payments can provide.

The bridge: Regional payment hubs

Regional digital payment hubs can change this. Acting as decentralized switches, they connect cooperatives, rural banks, Fintechs, and national systems into one interoperable network.

With API-ready, modular infrastructure, these hubs can:

• Enable QR payments and merchant acceptance in local markets

• Support virtual cards, BNPL, and other modern tools for members

• Deliver real-time settlement for transfers and disbursements

• Lower compliance and onboarding costs for smaller institutions

For the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, this model advances key priorities: interoperable payments, QR adoption, and rural financial inclusion - without requiring every cooperative to build its own expensive direct link to national rails.

Payments as the foundation of inclusion

Cooperatives don’t need to be reinvented. They need to be connected. By linking them through digital hubs, the Philippines can ensure that every Filipino - from bustling cities to the most remote islands - can participate fully in the digital economy.

Payments are not just a utility. They are the foundation of inclusion, unlocking access to credit, commerce, and opportunity. By empowering cooperatives with digital rails, the country can take a decisive step from cash to cashless - leaving no community behind.