Neobank Tonik announced that it has secured a digital bank license from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) as it has been operating under a rural banking license since 2019.
A year later, BSP had issued a framework on the establishment of digital banks, clearing the way for Tonik to scale up and apply for a formal digital bank license.
State-owned Overseas Filipino Bank (OFBank) which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the LANDBANK was the first digital only bank to be granted a license in March by the Philippines central bank.
The development comes after the neobank’s public launch in March 2021, which saw it secure over 1 billion pesos (US$20 million) in retail deposits in under 1 month.
Most recently, Tonik has also bagged US$17 million during its Pre-Series B funding backed by Sequoia.
Tonik is supervised by the BSP and deposits are insured by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC). Its unique cloud-based solution is powered by Mastercard, Amazon Web Services, and Finastra.
Greg Krasnov
“Securing a digital banking license is one of this year’s anticipated milestones for us.
This will help us further strengthen our foothold in the neobanking space through accelerating the roll out of our additional lending and payment products.”
shared Greg Krasnov, CEO and Founder of Tonik.
Long Pineda
“We are truly privileged to be working with a regulator such as the BSP who shares the same vision of bolstering financial inclusion in the country.
An official digital bank license will enable us to offer more products and services to narrow the gap between the banked population and the huge underserved segment in the Philippines.”
said Long Pineda, Country President at Tonik.
