N-Cash Launched

N-Cash Launched

NATCCO marked yet another record in business history. N-Cash, or National Cash Card program, a project of the National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO) in coordination with the government-owned Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, was launched on September 4, 2007, Tuesday at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) in Makati.

N-Cash is a cash card issued by NATCCO which can be used for "Card-to-Card' remittance, prepaid cell phone loading and bills payment. Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) may even complete a transaction just by sending a text message.

What's more, OFWs can now remit at a charge of only $1. This is a huge development in the country's remittance system as the usual $27 remittance fee is highly reduced.

According to financial reports, Filipino workers sent $12.8 billion to their families in the Philippines last year alone. It had cost OFWs $1.7 billion in transaction fees to bring in the $12.8 billion based on the current prevailing 13.5 percent remittance fee. But through the use of N-Cash, the $12.8 billion remitted last year will now cost only $64 million thus saving Filipino workers of up to $1.663 billion.

To implement the N-Cash program, NATCCO signed a cooperation agreement with i-Payment Solutions, Inc., or simply i-Pay, as its technology partner. The agreement allows NATCCO to use the payment platform designed and developed by i-Pay to offer to its cooperatives members and other individuals for their basic financial needs. All of which are more easy and convenient to use.