Financial services platform BayaniPay on Wednesday bared a bills payment service enabling Filipinos in the US to manage more efficiently and make direct payments of their real estate investments in the Philippines.
BayaniPay partnered with the country’s top property developers, SM Development Corp. (SMDC) and Ortigas Land Corp., to pioneer the service.
BayaniPay’s Bills Pay is powered by the country’s largest bank, BDO Unibank.
“We see a huge potential in this highly untapped market, which is marked by several barriers for overseas Filipinos. These partnerships allow us to plug the gap in cross-border payments for the real estate investment market worth P1 trillion.”
Winston Damarillo, BayaniPay chief executive
“Our partnerships with key industry leaders enable Filipino immigrants to conveniently pay their property investments in the Philippines at zero transaction fees and with competitive exchange rates,” he added.
The service offers customers the benefits of monthly auto debit and using an eligible funding source so they no longer have to open a separate bank account in the Philippines.
With the service, BayaniPay lets real estate developers collect, automate, and reconcile payments with ease through a custom dashboard.
The Philippine real estate market reported a boom in activity in the last few years, establishing its value of P1 trillion as of 2019, based on data from Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
According to the World Bank, overseas Filipinos set aside as much as 60 percent of their foreign currency earnings for property investments in the Philippines.
“Our partnership with BayaniPay bolsters our continuing effort to provide value to Filipinos in the US and help them experience living the good life,” said SMDC president Jose Mari H. Banzon.
“That also means giving them innovative solutions that make the purchase of their properties easy and worry-free, especially now that the real estate industry is expected to boom,” he added.
Ortigas Land International Marketing Director Arles Montefalcon II noted, “We have seen a strong recovery of the real estate market in 2022 and we expect this will continue in 2023 and beyond. “
“Our partnership with BayaniPay enables us to leverage new technologies to provide our customers in the US greater value for their investments.,” Montefalcon said.
This collaboration amplifies BayaniPay’s fintech capabilities to deliver more ways for global Filipinos to realize their dreams back home.
“True to our mission of finding ways to help our overseas Filipinos achieve their dreams of a better life for their families, BDO Remit is proud to be part of BayaniPay’s efforts to make digital financial services truly inclusive for our kababayans,” said Genie Gloria, senior vice president and head of BDO Remit.
Since 2021, BayaniPay has been delivering innovative cross-border payment solutions to the Filipino American community with the goal of reducing cost and providing convenience every time they send money home.
Bills Pay also allows for the payment of tuition, medical expenses, utilities, and more, removing “middlemen” and hurdles like convenience fees that trouble them.
The Bills Pay service on the BayaniPay web app is now available for customers in California, Hawaii, New Jersey, and Alaska paying bills to the Philippines.
