NEWS | GCash’s parent company, Mynt, officially joined the Philippine stock market today, October 20. Its shares trade under the ticker GCASH, which is the short code used to find a stock. The company sold P60.9 billion worth of shares, the most any company in the country has ever raised this way. Each share cost P6.60. The old record was P55.89 billion, set by Monde Nissin in 2021, and President Marcos Jr. joined the opening ceremony. The whole company was worth about P441.5 billion on its first day, roughly 7 billion US dollars.
Many Filipinos already use GCash every day to send money, pay bills and buy load. The company says most of its users live outside Metro Manila. About P1.1 billion of the shares were bought by people through the app. Now that GCash is listed, its shares can be bought and sold through brokers, just like other stocks. That means everyday people can own a small piece of it, not only big investors.
What this means for Filipinos
Large investors asked for several times more shares than were available. A House lawmaker said this could bring more first time investors into the stock market, as long as people learn how investing works and are protected along the way. The company also plans to use 60 percent of the money it raised from new shares to grow its lending business, which is the part of GCash where people borrow money.
BMN’s view is that owning a share of an app you use every day sounds exciting, but it is not a sure win. Share prices go up and down, and you can lose money. Only about 12 percent of the company was sold, so most of it still belongs to the same owners as before. If you borrow through the app, it is worth watching how fast the lending grows, since the company now has to answer to people who want it to earn more.
Will owning a piece of GCash help Filipinos grow their money, or just tempt more people into a risk they have not thought through?
