Peppermint share price soars almost 18% with a key deal to fast-track growth in the Philippines market

Peppermint has signed a major deal in the Philippines which will significantly advance its foothold in the country’s digital finance landscape.

Investors have responded to an update from  fintech Peppermint Innovation (ASX:PIL)  today, after it signed a significant cash-in, fund transfers and payments deal with Dragonpay — one of the largest and most reliable online payment gateway platforms in the Philippines.

Shares in PIL are up 17.65% to 2 cents after the deal, which provides a one-stop payment gateway connecting PIL’s expanding bizmoto network to numerous online and over the counter cash-in and payment channels throughout the Philippines.

The bizmoto service will become a merchant within the Dragonpay platform, giving PIL immediate and direct access to its massive network of banks, EMI-wallet providers, and remittance/payment centres to undertake cash-in, fund transfers and payments.

Essentially,  Dragonpay is an aggregator of cash-in, fund transfers and payments services and will be a major enabler for bizmoto agents, riders, and merchants to conduct transactions.

It will fast-tract the connection of bizmoto to major commercial banks such as  BDO,  Metrobank,  Unionbank,  UCPB,  Landbank, Bank of the Philippines,  RCBC,  Eastwest,  AUB, Chinabank and Robinsons Bank.

Furthermore, the Dragonpay deal connects bizmoto to the established e-wallets of Paymaya, GrabPay, Coins.ph  and CASHU.

Bizmoto will also be connected to a raft of over-the-counter  pawnshops,  remittance  and  payments  centres such asCebuana Luillhier, LBC, Bayad Center, ECpay, RD pawnshop, MLhuillier, Palawan Pawnshop, Villarica, PeraHUB, SM bills Pay, SM Savemore, Robinsons Supermarket, and PNB Global Remit.

Under the deal, bizmoto agents, merchants and bizmoGo riders can also receive payments from any customer using Dragonpay,  thereby significantly expanding the digital payment options for bizmoto customers.

The one-year agreement will renew automatically unless either party gives 30 days-notice.

PIL makes significant advances in core Filipino market

Growing brand recognition in the Philippines and providing an alternative non-bank micro-enterprise lending platform to Filipino customers has been PIL’s core priority.

In July the fintech achieved significant milestone after being awarded a financial lending licence in the country.

Under the terms of the licence, PIL offer alternative non-bank micro-enterprise loans to its qualified bizmoto agents, registered bizmoto network members and enterprise platform partners.

Following the lending licence approval, PIL undertook a 3-month pilot program for select bizmoto agents to test out the bizmoPay platform, identify and optimise any friction points or blockages to ensure efficient system operations.

It then started offering the loan program across its network of more  than 56,000 registered bizmoto agents.

Dragonpay deal a major milestone for PIL

PIL’s managing director and CEO Chris  Kain described the Dragonpay fly deal as a major milestone and significant enabler in the company’s goal to achieve complete interoperability for bizmoto across the Philippines payments landscape.

Kain said the ability of bizmoto agents to collect payment via digital settlement from a customer in real time would be significant given the growing digital payment trend in the Philippines.

“Additionally,  bizmoto agents,  riders and merchants can now tap directly  into  Dragonfly’s  network  and use it as cash-in points,” he said.

“This will make the cash-in process even more convenient for our agents, riders  and  merchants  and, therefore,  should encourage them to use the bizmoto platform more frequently.

“The more cash-in points we have, the more options for our bizmoPay borrowers to service their bizmoPay loans.”

This article was developed in collaboration with Peppermint, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.