One of the fastest-growing and publicly listed universal banks in the Philippines, Asia United Bank (AUB) has enabled its AUB Paymate merchants to accept Mastercard payments via QR Code, eliminating the cost attributed for sellers and merchants to invest in costly point-of-sales (POS) or card terminals.
In a virtual “Tap & Click with AUB” press briefing held in late October 2021, the bank unveiled the latest feature of AUB PayMate — the bank’s all-in-one digital payment acceptance product that enables all types of merchants to accept digital payments from both local or foreign eWallets, bank payments, and cards.
“AUB PayMate merchants have been trained to accept QR payments since we started in 2017 as an eWallet/QR payments acquirer. We want them to have the same digital payment acceptance journey by providing them a Card QR code to accept Mastercard payments. We want to provide a solution by innovating on the card acceptance process,” according to AUB First Vice President and Cards & Acquiring Business Group Head Mags Surtida.
With this latest innovation from AUB, customers can simply use their smartphone camera to scan the Card QR code displayed on the AUB PayMate merchants’ stores. They will be directed to a secure AUB PayMate checkout site and receive an OTP to complete and secure the transaction. Merchants can then view the payment status in real-time using the AUB PayMate app or portal.
“AUB PayMate can now support different types of payment transactions, including card payments,” said Wilfredo Rodriguez Jr., AUB Executive Vice-President for IT and Operations.
This expanded digital capability also allows merchants, especially micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to do away with costly card terminals.
“There are a lot of merchants that are not able to accept Mastercard payments because of the high cost of card terminals. In addition, merchants are usually required to meet a certain monthly transaction volume processed on the card terminal. If they don’t meet this quota, merchants can either lease or lease to own the terminal. This is the reason a lot of MSME merchants only accept cash payments,” added Ms. Surtida.
AUB also demonstrated the wide acceptance of its other digital platforms, including the early adoption of the national QR PH code for convenient fund transfers and payments via QR across banks using the AUB mobile app, HelloMoney eWallet, and AUB PayMate.