MANILA - PayMaya said Wednesday Filipinos could now easily invest online after the Bureau of Treasury opened the retail treasury bonds offer for apps and mobile wallets.

The Bureau of Treasury has allowed Bonds.Ph app to offer its newly issued 5-year bonds due in 2025, in order to reach the investing public, PayMaya said in a statement.

Filipinos, including those without bank accounts can fund their Bonds.Ph accounts using PayMaya, it said. The new online investment platform is powered by the Philippine Digital Asset Exchange (PDAX).

Filipinos can invest for as low as P5,000 or an aggregate of P500,000, it said.

“We have always envisioned to provide Filipinos with affordable and secure investment instruments where they can invest and at the same time aid the government in raising funds especially at this time. So we opened up our next Retail Treasury Bond offering to an online platform like Bonds.Ph that allows investors to use e-wallets like PayMaya to invest in RTBs,” said National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon.

“Opening up various online channels that allows Filipinos to invest will ensure a wider participation from individual investors, particularly for this offering,” she added.

PayMaya said account holders just need to download the Bonds.ph app, register and verify their accounts to cash in using their mobile numbers.

Once funded, the PayMaya account can be used to transfer money to the Bonds.Ph app, it said. Once the investment matures, proceeds from the bonds can also be withdrawn straight to PayMaya accounts, it added.

"PayMaya account holders can easily add funds to their Bonds.ph accounts using their PayMaya-registered mobile numbers, thereby democratizing access to government RTBs even to those who do not yet have a bank account," it said.

The Bureau of Treasury has been employing innovative and entertaining ways to encourage more Filipinos to invest. It offered budget "premyo bonds" in 2019, where investors could win P1 million aside from the bonds proceeds.

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