GHL partners bank to acquire merchants in the Philippines

PETALING JAYA: GHL Systems Bhd’s wholly owned subsidiary GHL Systems Philippines, Inc (GHL Philippines) has entered into an agreement to provide transaction payment acquisition (TPA) services to Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) via its servicing entity RCBC Bankard Services Corp.
The TPA service will enable GHL Philippines to directly contract with merchants to provide credit card payment services, also known as merchant acquiring, with RCBC acting as the underlying bank that will obtain authorisation for the credit card transactions.
“The Philippines is an important market for GHL Group and we are thrilled to partner with RCBC as the acquiring bank on this TPA initiative. RCBC Bankard is one of the pioneers of the credit card industry in the Philippines and is well respected by the business community here,” GHL group CEO Raj Lorenz said in a statement yesterday.
“This TPA partnership will be a game changer, the results of which should be self-evident in the years to come. There will be many, many more small merchants that will be accepting card payments in this country,” he added.
GHL first pioneered the TPA business in Malaysia. GHL Philippines and RCBC hope to take a significant market share of the small and medium sized merchant acquiring business in the Philippines via the partnership.
The Philippines, with its 102 million population holds great potential for debit and credit card payments growth. At present, there are only an estimated 180,000 EDC & POS terminals servicing an estimated 10 million credit, and 25 million debit cards issued to consumers.
Both GHL Philippines and RCBC hope to sign-up and enable more merchants to offer alternative payment solutions rather than traditional cash payments.
“The partnership with GHL Philippines allows RCBC to create a new market by tapping into the vast majority of small merchants that today, only accept cash for payment,” said RCBC chairman Helen Y. Dee.
Since its soft launch in mid May 2016, GHL Philippines has contracted with 1,000 merchants for the TPA service. These merchants come from various business segments including consumer retail, food and beverage, and services such as lodging, medical, dental and beauty outlets.