One of the Declarations agreed upon by the 4,000 participants of the October 2016 Cooperative Summit held at the SMX Convention Center was for co-ops to adopt the Kaya Payment Platform.

With the Kaya Payment Platform, co-op members can use their smart phones to transact.  The transactions include purchases, bills payments (with EC Pay), e-loading of cellphones, transactions through the BancNet ATM Network, inter-cooperative transfers, inter-branch transfers, bulk payments like payrolls and CCT disbursements (by co-ops), deposits and withdrawals.

The transaction amount will be credited to or debited from the user’s Kaya account.

The Kaya Payment Platform “app” can be downloaded from Google Play for free.

Earlier on March 17, 2016, the two largest cooperative federations in the Philippines – the National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO Network) and the Philippine Federation of Credit Cooperatives (PFCCO) – inked an agreement in Myanmar the deal with the Association of Asian Confederation of Credit Unions (AACCU), and electronic banking giants, Temenos and Software Group (SG).

There are now 35 co-ops all over the country, so far, that have adopted Kaya Payment Platform as one of their services to members.

Co-op leaders believe co-ops cannot be complacent as competition is now going electronic with the aim towards convenience and speed.

Furthermore, the trend is that less and less financial institutions building up “brick and mortar” or physical offices that member-clients can or need to visit.  With Kaya Mobile Payment, co-op members will not need to travel or go to the co-op to transact. This is a big minus in co-ops’ expenses as well as they will not have to build physical buildings.

Also with KPP, co-ops will not be left behind and remain relevant and significant in the lives of their members.  Competitors providing financial services are all over the internet, and could render co-ops obsolete if they do not adopt new technologies.

The Kaya Payment Platform is especially advantageous in the Philippines, which is an archipelago. There are instances when co-op members have to sail inter-island or cross rivers just to transact with their co-op.

This is seen as major move in the co-op sector as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas sees cashless mobile payments as the best vehicle for Financial Inclusion, where even Filipinos in remote areas will have access to financial services, thereby boosting local economies.  According to the BSP, only 1% of transactions in the Philippines is cashless, and targets 5% by 2020.

Sylvia Paraguya commented on her Facebook account: “We are excited with what we can do to make the co-ops active in providing the financial services needed by members; also expressing the courage to take the big leap and away from the comfort zone.”

The journey towards the Myanmar agreement began in 1997, when Temenos representatives first attended the annual ACCU Conference in Nepal, where a common core banking system was proposed.

Since then, regular contact between ACCU and Temenos continued into 2012 when ACCU consulted with Asian member credit union federations on a mobile payment platform.  A workshop for CEOs of the federations was held in 2013, when a payments proposal was considered.

This was followed by the signing of a memorandum of understanding in 2014.

In 2015, NATCCO and PFCCO held the 2^nd Joint Educational Forum in Davao City, where Mr. Gardiner of Temenos, presented to the more than 900 participants the ACCU Payment Platform.

Software Group, based in Bulgaria, is a leading integrated financial eco-system provider and serves over 100 clients in 6 continents.

Temenos serves over 2,000 firms worldwide to process the daily transactions of more than 500 million banking customers. Based in Switzerland, Temenos has 53 offices with more than 3,700 international staff.

Temenos and Software Group have collaborated closely with the NATCCO IT Group in developing the Kaya Payment Platform suitable for the cooperative setting in an archipelago like the Philippines.

NATCCO and PFCCO are vigorously promoting the Kaya Payment Platform among their members all over the country, from Ilocos to Davao.

If your co-op wants to provide Kaya Mobile Payment Platform to members, call the NATCCO IT (02)913-7011 to 15, or PFCCO at 0917-707-5576.