PLDT Picks Vesta to Strengthen Security of Online Transactions

PLDT, Inc. (PLDT), the Philippines' largest fully integrated telecommunications company, and its wireless unit Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) announced that they are utilizing the anti-fraud solutions of Vesta to enhance the protection of online transactions made by customers across their digital channels.

Vesta is one of the world's leading instant, end-to-end transaction guarantee platforms for online purchases, and its anti-fraud solution was availed by PayMaya Philippines (PayMaya), the fintech arm of PLDT affiliate Voyager Innovations, to be offered to its clients.

PayMaya powers the payment acceptance for PLDT and Smart's digital channels. It is the Philippines' only end-to-end digital financial services platform company, with the largest and fastest-growing enterprise payment processing business today.

Through the initiative, PLDT and Smart customers can enjoy safer, more secure, and more seamless online payment transactions using PayMaya's payment acceptance solutions, with Vesta's anti-fraud tools.

Vesta has over two decades of global telecom industry experience and works with leading telecommunication brands around the world. Vesta's real-time decisioning platform provides the analytics and authentication technology required to increase approvals of legitimate transactions, while rejecting bad ones. This ensures that PLDT and Smart customers can confidently make payments across various digital domestic and international channels.

"The combination of PLDT's customer-centric digital solutions, PayMaya's industry-leading payment acceptance solutions, and Vesta's artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled fraud detection and approval enhancement capabilities allow us to deliver superior customer-centric services and provide our customers with the best payment experience possible. We will continue to push the frontier of financial technology as we rapidly shift to a landscape where more Filipinos are digitally-empowered," said Di Blanco, Vice President of PLDT and Smart Customer Experience.

According to the e-Conomy SEA 2020 report by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company, with the pandemic necessitating mobility restrictions and contactless services, 37% of digital service consumers in the Philippines were new to digital services, which is slightly higher than the SEA average of 36%, with 95% of these new consumers intending to continue their behavior post-pandemic.

Additionally, a recent survey conducted by Vesta found that one in three consumers across Southeast Asia has experienced online fraud. Roughly a third of all shoppers in the Philippines specifically rank safety and security as their top concern when it comes to e-commerce, which is why customer-focused technology companies like PLDT and Smart are looking at world-class solutions provided by companies like Vesta.

"We are delighted to be able to support PLDT and Smart in strengthening their thrust to provide a safe, secure, and frictionless payment experience for PLDT's customers through PayMaya's solutions. Our mission is simple: help companies scale their digital payment touchpoints with greater confidence by leveraging our end-to-end transaction guarantee platform for domestic and international transactions," said Shabab Muhaddes, Vesta General Manager in the Asia Pacific.