MANILA — The Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) launched on Friday its own mobile tap-and-go payment solution for credit card holders.
With RCBC Pay, customers can now link their Mastercard credit card to their Android smartphone via the RCBC Pulz app and simply tap their phone on any contactless payment terminal, locally and abroad, when making purchases— eliminating the need to bring physical cards.
While RCBC may not be the first bank to offer this technology in the Philippines, RCBC Credit Cards COO Mylene Bico said they hope to make up for it in terms of convenience and security.
“We’re not the first anymore but we hope customers will find our solution a better one… We’ve always invested in digitalization because our commitment, as mentioned by our President and CEO (Eugene Acevedo), is that we’re passionate about delivering the best customer experience,” said Bico.
Bico also said that it partnered with tech and cybersecurity firm Thales to ensure that the feature would be safe from data breaches.
“We are very diligent in choosing our partners. Thales is one of the best providers for this kind of technology,” said Bico, amid several cases of companies getting hacked through third-party providers.
“It’s very secure because you’re not transmitting your actual card number on the terminal. What the system does is that it generates a one-time token so it cannot be compromised,” she added.
But Bico also reminded clients that they too have a responsibility to safeguard their own accounts.
“Never ever share your OTP (one-time pin). That’s very important, especially from the enablement process… You need to authenticate yourself when you log into the app, and before you pay, you also need to be authenticated,” she noted.
TIMELY MOVE
Mastercard Philippines Country Manager Simon Calasanz hailed the launch of RCBC Pay as a timely move as the demand for contactless payments grows.
“The global average is two-thirds of transactions are already contactless. (In the) Philippines, 40 percent, but we’re catching up very fast… Prior to the pandemic, it was single-digit,” said Calasanz.
He added that hundreds of thousands of merchants are also now accepting cashless payments.
“There are more than 300,000 merchants in the country. But worldwide, you’re looking at about a hundred million Mastercard merchants,” he said.
