Amid the boom of cashless payments in the Philippines, leading digital financial services firm PayMaya has signed an Information-Sharing Protocol (ISP) agreement with the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) to help the government in its efforts to prevent and combat financial crimes in the country.
The ISP between AMLC and PayMaya will serve as a bilateral agreement and cooperative framework for more efficient communication and collaboration to prevent and mitigate financial crimes in the country.
“As we continue to enforce the country’s laws against money laundering and terrorism financing, collaboration with the private sector has become more crucial. We truly appreciate the support of PayMaya for this initiative, especially now that more Filipinos are employing cashless transactions,” said Atty. Mel Georgie B. Racela, Executive Director of the AMLC.
Through the ISP, the AMLC and PayMaya will collaborate in areas of information-sharing and capacity building to help strengthen the integrity of the Philippine financial system.
“As digital payments adoption continues to accelerate among Filipinos, the safety and security of the financial accounts of our customers are paramount. Financial services providers have the responsibility of safeguarding this trust. At PayMaya, we are reaffirming our full commitment in ensuring that transactions made by our customers and partners in our various platforms are safe and secure to maintain their overall trust in our systems,” said Shailesh Baidwan, President of PayMaya.
Securing systems to prevent crimes
PayMaya has stepped up its efforts to combat financial crimes in its system by deploying anti-fraud detection tools, implementing a more stringent KYC process, and actively informing its users on how to avoid being victimized by fraudsters and other unscrupulous individuals.
In a recent Senate Committee hearing regarding bills pending that will address human trafficking and online sexual abuse and exploitation of children, PayMaya likewise reiterated its commitment to fully support legislation and proactively cooperate with government agencies to combat these crimes.
Aside from financial fraud, the ISP between AMLC and PayMaya can help mitigate other crimes including online sexual abuse and exploitation of children, human trafficking, terrorism financing, swindling or estafa, and donation scams, among others.
PayMaya is the only end-to-end digital payments ecosystem enabler in the Philippines with platforms and services that cut across consumers, merchants, communities, and government. Through its enterprise business, it is the largest digital payments processor for key industries in the country including “everyday” merchants such as the largest retail, food, gas, and eCommerce merchants as well as government agencies and units.
Through its app and wallet, PayMaya provides over 28 million Filipinos with access to financial services. Customers can conveniently pay, add money, cash out or remit through its over 200,000 digital touchpoints nationwide.
Its Smart Padala by PayMaya network of over 37,000 partner agent touchpoints nationwide serves as last-mile digital financial hubs in communities, providing the unbanked and underserved with access to digital services.