Japan's Digital Wallet Corp acquires Philippine fintech

It is renamed Digital Wallet Philippines.

Digital Wallet Corporation (DWC) enters the Philippine market through its acquisition of fintech company Speed Money Transfer Philippines (SMTP) which it rebranded to Digital Wallet Philippines, an announcement revealed. 

DWC shared plans to expand its mobile wallet technology Smiles Mobile Remittance (Smiles) through the newly-acquired company. SMTP’s customers can use the Smiles mobile app to avail of DWC’s mobile wallet services and receive and transfer funds, both domestically and internationally.

In Japan, Smiles has gained a customer base amongst migrant Filipinos working in the country since it launched in 2017. 

The Philippines was the fourth-highest remittance recipient globally at $34b, trailing Mexico at $36b, China at $67b and India at $79b. According to the World Bank, remittances to low and middle-income countries reached a record high of $529b in 2018 and are expected to reach $550b in 2019 to become their largest source of external financing.

DW Philippines is also expected to contribute to DWC’s Digital Wallet Project, a global money transfer and investment wallet which aims to give customers access to Asian investment projects To raise funds for the Digital Wallet Project, the DWC Token was issued as the third Initial Exchange Offer (IEO) on DigiFinex’s platform on 28 August.

Funds raised from DWC Token will reportedly be channeled towards DWC’s wallet service expansion plans as well as investments in agriculture, farm, and commercial and hotel developments in the surrounding areas of upcoming airports in the Philippines and other Asian 
markets.