Elevating the Filipino Financial Experience With a Bigger, Better and Younger Bayad

Stevie-winner CIS Bayad Center, Inc. (Bayad) is the largest multichannel payment platform in the Philippines. Formerly known as Bayad Center, Bayad takes pride in having the largest billing network, serving more than 500 billers, including basic utilities, government contributions, loan payments, tuition fees, online shopping, insurance, and many others. To date, 80% of banks and financial institutions in the country are likewise powered by Bayad for their bill payment acceptance.

With more than 20 years in the industry, Bayad continues to be a trailblazer as it evolves from an over-the-counter payment center into a full-service fintech company, offering a whole suite of financial products & services available to both consumers and businesses.

Bayad won the Bronze Stevie Award in the Innovation in Rebranding category, where it articulated its brand transformation in an essay entry titled "Meralco's Bayad Center to Bayad: How a traditional bills payment brand authority in the Philippines adapted to the digital age."

Transforming the Digital Financial Experience

With technology continuing to develop in leaps and bounds, and with COVID-19 pandemic still in the equation, businesses big and small were pushed to undergo digital transformation to automate their services for their customers.

Through the use of real-time electronic payments and user-friendly mobile applications, transactions like bills payment, money remittances, and online shopping can now be done in the comfort of one’s home – something that Bayad makes possible. With the main goal of connecting, empowering, and providing customers with seamless relevant, and secured financial services, Bayad has aligned its initiatives with the goal of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in achieving 50% increase in digital financial transactions in 2023.

In line with this, the company has rebranded itself as a "Bigger, Better, and Younger Bayad" to introduce more payment channels and services, and to capture a significant chunk of the younger and internet-savvy market.

Anchored on its “Pay Anywhere” stance, Bayad has clinched and maintained partnerships with various billers, utility companies, government institutions, and remittance companies, enabling a network of establishments, agents, online and mobile applications, financial institutions, cooperatives, and fintech companies.

To date, 80% of the banks and financial institutions in the country are likewise powered by Bayad for their bills payment acceptance. More importantly, their extensive connections have resulted in successful partnerships with multinational financial services corporations such as VISA and Mastercard, empowering more customers to pay online.

Bayad has also opened opportunities to entrepreneurs to generate additional income for their existing businesses through its franchise model, enabling the company to receive various recognitions for its service excellence.

Scaling Innovation for the Future

According to Bayad, constant innovation is the linchpin in their development as a fintech institution. They continue to launch new and supportive services and solutions for customers.   

• Bayad has launched Bayad Asenso, a retail trade app that aims to provide opportunities for MSMEs to generate additional income for their existing businesses. This solution can be embedded within the business feature of the Bayad App, where business owners can register and manage their accounts, enabling them to become Bayad Agents, offering Bayad’s financial services in their respective communities.
• Apart from Bayad Asenso, Bayad also introduced the Bayad Checkout, a payment check-out solution that is integrated in an enterprise’s website or mobile app, allowing its customers to choose their preferred payment method.
• Lastly, Bayad has also successfully launched Bayad Express, a one stop shop payment solution that is also embedded in a merchant’s website or mobile app, which enables customers to access other billers of Bayad, apart from the merchant’s primary payment offerings.

As Bayad continues to create positive strides by maintaining dominance in payments, it advances its cyber security measures, enabling the company to obtain its Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard Certification (PCIDSS), an information security standard for all business entities that handle card information.

With its ongoing efforts in security compliance, Bayad also utilizes fraud detection tools making them confident in expanding its user base as it continues to develop value-added services and additional revenue streams to community establishments and online businesses.

Bayad won a Bronze Stevie Award for Innovation in Brand Renovation / Rebranding in the 2022 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.

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