Cash-recycling ATM machine inside a 7-Eleven convenience store. Handout

MANILA - The Philippine operator of the 7-Eleven convenience store chain said the company is looking to further expand into fintech and leverage its cash recycling ATMs towards this end.

During a media briefing on the company’s financial results, Philippine Seven Corp (PSC) president and CEO Victor Paterno said the “company will be announcing something soon” and that the convenience store operator has a role to play in financial inclusion.

Fintech services, like e-wallet cash-ins, led to a growth in the company’s service income, and was also a major contributor and a source of future growth, PSC said.

“We believe that partnering with new digital players will be an opportunity that, because of our assets, we are uniquely positioned for,” Paterno said.

“The thinking is that we were fortunate to have built and accumulated our digital assets when it was cheaper to do so, and we are now in a good position to monetize those assets by partnering with digital players who need access to them,” Paterno added.

He said the company’s cash recycling ATMs are especially useful for financial inclusion.

The ATMs work by letting store operators deposit their sales for the day, and the machine then “recycles” the cash to fund the withdrawals of customers of partner banks.

“We believe in financial inclusion, we do think that we have a role to play, we think that people trust our brand,” Paterno said.

Recycler ATMs have been installed in over 1,200 stores and there are plans to add at least 1,500 more cash recycler ATMs in 2022 across parts of Visayas and Mindanao, the company said.

Meanwhile Paterno said that based on their sales data, customers who moved out of Metro Manila at the height of the pandemic have yet to return.

He said that during the pandemic, sales in Metro Manila weakened significantly while sales in the provinces, especially in Visayas and Mindanao became stronger. The company saw this as an indication of people moving to the provinces.

Despite the easing of COVID-19 restrictions and the return to onsite work for many companies, Paterno said their sales data doesn’t indicate that this trend has reversed.

Paterno said the company welcomes President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s promise that there won’t be anymore lockdowns.

He said this gives businesses “certainty”.

“So we really appreciate the guidance,” he said.

He also said he supports the return to face-to-face classes for the coming school year.

Paterno added that the trends are continuing to look good and the company is bullish about its prospects.

PSC said it ended 2021 with total revenues of P45.1 billion, up 3.4 percent from 2020. The company however still posted a net loss of P461 million due to the impact of the pandemic, even as operating income climbed to P448.2 million.

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