Enabling Financial Inclusivity Issues and Challenges and the Adaption and Implementation of QR PH in Valenzuela City

The Philippines firmly recognized the importance of digitalization as an instigating factor in enabling greater financial inclusivity and addressing the persisting socioeconomic disparity between social classes. Thus, due to the recent empirical results indicating a significant correlation between the use of digital payment methods and financial inclusivity, various government instrumentalities in the Philippines committed to formulating and implementing initiatives to digitalize payment systems in the country. Implementing the National QR Code Standard (QR Ph) has become one of the most crucial steps in the nation's pursuit of financial inclusiveness. However, the goal of realizing greater financial inclusivity with the help of QR Ph remained a considerably challenging task due to the existing issues and challenges that hindered its full adoption and implementation. Despite the positive impact on financial inclusivity, numerous market vendors remained non-participants in the QR Ph initiative. Therefore, this study analyzed the current status of QR Ph implementation and its impact on the working conditions of market vendors. Moreover, it also sought to concretely identify and assess the hindrances that impeded the complete adoption and implementation of QR Ph from the perspectives of both the market vendors and policy implementers within Valenzuela City. The importance of this study lay in its objective to produce a robust network of empirical insights on the discourse regarding the QR Ph implementation. In addition, the findings of this study resulted in the extraction of relevant data with significant implications that aided the researchers in formulating policy enhancement recommendations to strengthen and empower the utilization of QR Ph in grassroots communities and ultimately contributed as an enabling factor in instigating greater financial inclusivity in Valenzuela City.