Manila, 4th April 2024: In the past ten months, India and Philippines have inched closer in terms of potential cooperation around digital payment platforms, payment linkages, fintech industry, innovative technologies, digital governance, and others. So much so that in June 2023, both the countries signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on financial technologies.
The MoU envisages the establishment of a Joint Working Group (JWG) supervised by the Ministries of Finance and including members comprising senior executives from foreign & IT Ministries, central banks, regulatory bodies from financial sector and others. As part of JWG’s core responsibility, it would discover strategies for collaboration in fintech that would also entail interoperability with the payment platforms.
Although, still in the preliminary stages, the topic of a probable synergy between India’s UPI and Filipino payment firms was brought to the fore by none other than India’s external affairs minister, S. Jaishankar during a meeting with his Filipino counterpart, Enrique Manalo.
Even Philippine’s finance minister, Benjamin Diokno who graced the occasion of the MoU signing highlighted the significance of developing fintech solutions across business and financial sectors.
To top it all, on second ofApril 2024, the Embassy of India in Philippines launched the very first India-Philippine Tech Summit (IPTS) to strengthen its ties with Manila in the tech and digital sphere. IPTS was jointly organised by DICT and the Philippines Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) as well as India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
At a time when the focus is shifting towards fintech events in Philippines, World Financial Innovation Series (WFIS), the country’s foremost fintech event is coming up with another grand annual edition on 13 – 14 August 2024 at Manila Marriott Hotel. Visit website: http://13.234.204.109/
