How many credit card users are there really in the Philippines?

[rchiang]

Figures disclosed by the Credit Card Association of the Philippines (CCAP) pegs the local penetration rate at somewhere around 4.5 % to 5.0%.  The figure undoubtedly was arrived at based on the total cardholder base of each CCAP member.  But wait!  What happens if there are people who hold multiple credit cards from different card issuer.  Practically everybody I know who owns a credit card would have at least 2 in his or her wallet.  So if you take out the duplicates, I think the actual credit card penetration rate would be closer to 4% (or even less).

So if you want to accept online payments, you have to look beyond credit cards and consider other options as well.  How many people would have ATM cards (Bancnet or Megalink)?  Industry guesstimates that I've heard in the past say its around 9%.  I don't know how true that is.  Most people (except contractual or hard laborers) receive their salaries through the bank.  So an ATM is necessary.

As of this writing (Dec 5), there's about 25 million mobile phone users.  How many people actually use Globe G-Cash and Smart Money?  I have no idea.  But it is not far-fetched to think that there may actually be more people with access to mobile payments than credit cards or debit cards.

[rchiang]

Here's an answer to the often asked question -- how many Filipinos are online?  According to Nielsen and Yahoo, its 20M as of Mar 2009, mostly between 10 to 29 years old.  That probably explains why e-commerce is only around 3% -- these people may not have the purchasing power or the facilities (eg. credit card, ATM cards) to make payments.

This is why local merchants should embrace options like mobile payments.  And this is why we make PayEasy as comprehensive as possible to cater to all sorts of markets.

[rchiang]

And here's the answer to the question -- how many GCash users are there.

[rchiang]

How about ATM cardholders?