Billease has acquired a majority stake in the Rural Bank of Sta. Maria (RBSM) in Ilocos Sur. The company aims to leverage this acquisition to expand its lending capabilities and transition into a “digital-centric” bank.

The acquisition of over 90% of RBSM solidifies a strategic partnership announced earlier in November.

That initial collaboration paved the way for integrating banking functions, such as digital savings accounts and fund transfers via InstaPay and PESONet, directly into the Billease app.

Full implementation of these features is targeted for the third quarter of 2026.

Billease CEO and Co-Founder Georg Steiger, who is also a recipient of the Fintech Frontiers award from Fintech News Network, stated that the company hopes to grow its lending portfolio to PHP 15 billion by 2026, up from over PHP 10 billion this year.

“If we start the bank in the third quarter next year… I wouldn’t expect much in 2026. But in 2027, we expect that we can ramp it up very quickly,” Steiger said. He added that recent efforts have focused on capitalisation, governance, and leadership for the bank.

Dennis Valdes, President and CEO of the rural bank, noted that the combined entity plans to offer competitive deposit rates and potentially zero transfer fees to attract customers.

While the group intends to maintain its rural banking license for now, Valdes mentioned plans to “completely transform our core systems to get ready for digital-centric banking”.

Since its inception in 2017, Billease has served over 10 million customers and disbursed more than PHP 100 billion in loans.

The move made by Billease follows a trend of fintechs acquiring rural banks to enter the digital bank space, similar to recent moves by Salmon and Sea Group.

However, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has indicated it may impose stricter regulations, including higher capital requirements, on such “rural-turned-digital” banks.

Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Philippines based on an image by ilygraphic via Freepik.