MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines recorded the highest number of new “e-cash adopters” among 10 countries in the Asia Pacific during the COVID-19 pandemic, based on the latest study from global cybersecurity firm Kaspersky.
According to the Kaspersky report released on Thursday, 37 percent of respondents in the Philippines said they only started using digital payment methods during the pandemic, followed by India at 23 percent, Australia at 15 percent, Vietnam at 14 percent, Indonesia at 13 percent, and Thailand at 13 percent.
Meanwhile, the lowest number of first-time online payment users are China at five percent, and South Korea and Malaysia both at nine percent. Kaspersky noted that China has been a notable leader in mobile payments in APAC even before the pandemic.
Digital Payment Adoption in Asia Pacific (Data from Kaspersky)
The study, titled “Mapping a digitally secure path for the future of payments in APAC,” was conducted by research agency YouGov in key territories in the region, such as Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.
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Kaspersky said the survey responses were gathered in July this year with a total of 1,618 respondents surveyed across the said countries. The respondents are 18 to 65 years old working professionals who are digital payment users.
Meanwhile, the study also found that 90 percent of the Asian respondents has used mobile payment apps at least once in the past 12 months. Nearly 2 in 10, or 15 percent of them only started using these platforms after the pandemic started.
