Coins.ph, a digital wallet and mobile payments app, has announced its partnership with AF Payments, Inc., a contactless payment solutions provider, to allow commuters to instantly load their beep cards with funds using NFC-enabled Android smartphones.
Coins.ph enables beep card users to easily and instantly load their cards with funds by simply holding or tapping their beep cards to the back of their phone. Card holders can load from a minimum of Php10 to a maximum of Php10,000 anytime without the need to fall in line and no additional fees to pay.
Regarding its loading locations, Coins.ph focuses on convenience stores, and remittance centers. There are 33,000 locations nationwide where Coins.ph digital wallets can be funded.
To use the service, beep card users need to download from the Google Play Store the Coins.ph app to their NFC-equipped phone, register and log in to their account.
To load an amount, enable NFC in settings. Press the beep logo and tap Load button. Choose the desired amount, and hold the card at the back of the phone to transfer load. Coins.ph also allows users to check the remaining balance of their load.
“Coins.ph provides beep card holders the ability to load their cards anytime, anywhere just by tapping their card on their smartphone. This added convenience means no more falling in line to add load during the busy rush hour,” said Peter Maher, president and CEO of AF Payments, Inc.
The Coins.ph and beep card collaboration is driving the promotion of cashless payment in the Philippines. With customers reaching four-million, the Coins.ph platform enables everyone, including those without bank accounts to store value in their Coins.ph wallets, transfer money for family and friends, pay their bills, buy load and make payments across the Philippines directly from their phone.
“With this collaboration, beep cardholders can seamlessly use Coins.ph to load their cards with their phones and make payments anywhere beep is accepted. This solution represents a catalytic step forward in a vision that we share with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas of forging an advanced digital economy by 2020,” said Ron Hose, CEO at Coins.ph.
When it comes to security, Coins.ph is a lot safer than carrying physical wallet. For its protection, the platform is using the latest algorithms and the latest encryption standards which have not been broken and is not expecting to be broken, according to Maher.
Maher said they are now working with retailers, and bus operators regarding the requirement for beep card in the future. They are also working on having beep card as part of requirements in the jeep modernization program.
On the loading side, bus stations, where beep card users can load on their own without falling in line, will be included as a loading location. Besides, users can also do loading that comes from bank accounts.
“There’s a lot of development on the loading side. We want to make it genuinely easy for people to load the card, easier to understand so we route them to many places,” said Maher.
Licensed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas as an electronic money issuer and remittance and transfer firm, Coins.ph aims to foster financial inclusion and promote mobile payments in the Philippines.
AF Merchants, on the other hand, is a consortium of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) and Ayala Corp. that provides contactless payment solutions in the Philippines. Its tap-to-pay system, the beep card, is available in LRT-1, LRT-2, and MRT-3, select bus lines, CAVITEX, NLEX, and at select FamilyMart, Robinsons Movieworld, and Wendy’s branches. Off-rail reloading options include select outlets of Bayad Center, SM Bills Payment, Villarica, Tambunting, FamilyMart, and Circle K.
