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Baul, Kimberly S.

ENT117-A72

SEAMLESS PHILIPPINES 2019

The Seamless Philippines is a large-scale exhibition showcasing the latest payments, e-

commerce, and retail technologies and a free to attend the conference with over seven dedicated
theaters covering payments, e-commerce marketing, e-commerce strategy, banking, financial
inclusion, and identity. It is a two-day exhibition which was happened last September, 25 and 26
2019. The accounting students of Malayan Colleges Laguna together with their professors were
participants on the last day of the event. Many companies also participate in these events to
showcase their business. Some representatives were the speakers of each thirty minutes seminar
which talks about several topics.

Due to traffic, the first seminar that we attended was Banking for the digital age. The speaker
of this seminar was from Yalamanchili Software Exports. This seminar talks about the evolution
of digitalization in banking from mechanization to digital banking. As well as, the comparison
between traditional banking and digital banking. Also the edge of these two. For traditional
banking, it is localized and the bank will know its customers in person which better to build
relationships and trust. However, when it comes to digital banking, it is a 24/7 service
availability and includes more services such as utility payments and online shopping payment. It
is also a proactive banking service that is based on customer spending patterns.

The seminar explains that digitalization can provide value-added cost-effective service which
leads to digital transformation. It also includes the three key points in services such as
affordability, trust, and accessibility. Digital banking will be in demand since it is convenient to
use, anytime and anywhere. Moreover, since the users of mobile phones and the internet have
been increasing, many people preferred this banking method. Especially, the young adult and the
seniors. This is because digital banking is a free-hassle banking method and there is no need for
the senior citizens to go in the bank to process things like payments, deposits, withdrawals, etc.
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Furthermore, the speaker also explains that fee collection such as payment via electronic means
will depend on the environment. This is because urban banks can do digital banking since they
have three key points, unlike the rural banks. Lastly, he emphasized that by this generation
people can create one flat form but infinite solutions. He later introduces one of the examples of
this flatform which is called Assisted Automated Service Centers.

As for the next seminar, we went to the financial inclusion part which talks about the Next
generation on financial literacy. The seminar emphasizes the problem of the Philippines when it
comes to financial literacy. Financial literacy is the education and understanding of various
financial areas including topics related to managing personal finance, money and investing
(Investopedia.com). According to Standard and Poor (2014), Filipinos are at the bottom wherein
only twenty-five percent of Filipino adults are financially literate. Due to that, the speaker from
Manulife explains the importance of managing money and investing in insurance like their
business. The speaker also presented the projects of Manulife to enhance the financial literacy of
the young students at this stage. The project is called, Peso Smart: Manulife Hands on Manila
wherein they go to a different school to teach the students in terms of money.

After the seminar, I had to search for the importance of Financial Literacy for a college student
like me. I read this statement of Cherry Dale, “I think if people truly understand the way that
financial systems work at an early age, or even later on in life—if they’ve made poor decisions
but learn how they can go back and fix them and start planning for the future—they can then
encompass that and take the steps to make a better life for themselves.” This statement is right.
As students, we should learn and understand how to manage our money at this young age.
Especially now, we can ask for pieces of advice to our professors who know about managing and
investing. This will be a stepping stone for our future if we are knowledgeable about this in the
first place.

We stayed at financial inclusion and listened to the next speaker which is a representative of
Acudeen. The seminar talks about, How to financially include MSMEs through receivables and
export factoring. Aside from presenting their business, Acudeen it introduced a different way for
the MSMEs to acquire a loan. While listening to this seminar, I have searched the website of this
company because their platform is new to me. Acudeen is a technology company enabling small
and medium enterprises (SMEs) to finance their receivables ahead of time. Its online platform
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allows transactions to happen fast, from receivables uploaded to cash within days, in a secure
and trustworthy environment. Also, they connect sellers of receivables to a network of investors.
This company opens its business to SMEs looking to boost its cash flow, thereby answering an
unsolved business need. Acudeen provides an alternative and dynamic solution to help
companies reach their maximum business potential.

Furthermore, Acudeen also explains their tech platform for domestic MSMEs wherein there is
an ownership transfer of invoice which includes several parties such as invoice marketplace,
KYC process, risk assessment, ownership transfer, and collections. We were planning to ask how
about the risks in buying these invoices. However, the speaker explains that Acudeen can
provide a secure and trustworthy environment for all market participants with a full view of the
risks associated with the transaction and the control over key processes behind the flow of
money. Acudeen is also available to the exporters and several countries are partnered by this
company. For us students, it is very fascinating that they come up with this idea and they grab
this opportunity when Republic act 11057 passed into law. It helps the small enterprises to access
credit without real estate used loan collateral.

The last seminar that we attended is the Peso Sense: The route to financial freedom. This is
one of the interesting seminars that I attended in Seamless Philippines aside from Acudeen. This
is because it talks about how important people to save money. Just like the Acudeen, I also
search for their organization to get familiar. Pesos Sense helps both Overseas Filipinos (OFs) and
their beneficiaries to improve their financial decisions. It is also executed by the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) in collaboration with the Commission on Filipinos Overseas
(CFO). Just like a seminar in Manulife, it talks about the importance of financial education.
Especially to the Overseas Filipinos who need tips to manage their money. The speaker also
showed a video about tips to save your money and explained the Ipon Challenge. It catches my
interest because it is important for me to save money now that I am a college student. This
organization is not only open to overseas Filipinos and students but also to other people such as
entrepreneurs, professionals, retirees, homemakers and young adults who want to know how to
properly save money and learn about basic financing.
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Aside from attending to different seminars, we also explored different booths around the
convention and ask each representative at the booth about what is the purpose or functions of
their business. Some booths captivate my attention because of their unique functions. One of
these is the personalized card by Goldpac Fintech HK LTD. They have a machine wherein you
can personalized cards like an ATM card. The card is easy to create with the help of an android
phone and their machine people can have a personalized card in no time. Apart from this, we
also saw some familiar companies that participate in the convention such as, Home Credit, 2go
travel, Epson Philippine Corporation, etc. There is a booth that made you realized that
technologies in this century are indeed advancing.

I had learned a lot from this convention. I have realized that they are many aspects of a
business that you need to understand. As well as, the importance of financing in our life. Aside
from that, I notice that technology in our country is improving. This is because of the creative
people who discover things to make life convenient. Moreover, I also observed that many
foreigners were choosing our country not only because it is less costly. But also to the increasing
number of Filipinos who easily adapting different technologies especially when it comes to
mobile phones and social media. I hope we can participate again in this kind of event because it
will be a better experience for us, students.