Fintech Peppermint Secures EMI Licence from Central Bank of the Philippines

The fintech Peppermint has been granted a licence to operate as an Electronic Money Issuer (EMI) by the Central Bank of the Philippines, 'Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas' (BSP).

The EMI licence authorises the company to deliver e-wallet services through its bizmoto mobile app allowing any Filipino, not just bizmoto agents, to use the platform to receive digital money and access digital services.

The EMI licence extends the company's opportunity to reach micro-entrepreneurs and provide digital payments for their businesses. They also can apply for bizmoPay loans, purchase bizmoProtect micro-insurance policies, and future bizmoto platform products and services.

The company plans to start work on a pilot program with a local community to facilitate financial inclusion by encouraging members to become bizmoto users so they can immediately access digital and mobile payments as an alternative to cash transactions within their community.

Peppermint's Managing Director and CEO Chris Kain said: "The issuance of an EMI licence to PBI will, ultimately, deliver significant value to the Company and the communities we operate in. We're excited to share the BSP's vision that 50% of all retail transactions that occur throughout the Philippines are digital by 2023, and that 70% of Filipino adults have formal accounts by 2023."

Neal Cross, Peppermint Non Executive Director stated: "We have now secured our keystone for the licensing strategy in the Philippines, on top of our previous Finance License enabling lending to micro entrepreneurs, we can now supply cash in, cash out to an open wallet and deliver micro lending to mass consumers. Basically, we cover most of the features that a bank has at a fraction of the operating cost, enabling us to scale at a greater rate, that can only be good for our end clients and partners."

Source: The Paypers