Payments infrastructure company TerraPay and Philippines’ digital bank Maya announced a strategic partnership at the Singapore Fintech Festival aimed at improving international remittances for Filipinos worldwide. As part of this partnership, users of the Maya app will be able to receive money transfers from Korea, the U.S., Singapore, and the Middle East through TerraPay’s extensive global network. The aim is to enhance the customer experience by offering secure and convenient cross-border transactions, with faster transfer times, competitive exchange rates, and affordable payment options. The Philippines, a top destination for remittances, received a significant inflow of US$38 billion in 2022. The…

Netbank, a Filipino bank specialising in partnership-based banking, has launched new savings accounts in collaboration with several Filipino Facebook Groups. This offering is designed to meet the unique needs and preferences of specific communities. This partnership-based banking approach allows the bank to offer its services directly to members of online communities. By working with groups such as Digital Banks Ph and Tipid Hacks Philippines, Netbank ensures that its services are easily accessible to individuals who share common interests and goals. One of the standout features of Netbank’s partnership-based savings accounts is the introduction of raffle-based savings. This allows members of…

Philippines’ e-wallet GCash has expanded the availability of ‘GCash Global Pay’ to now include six new markets namely South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom. This follows the initial launch of the service earlier this year. GCash Global Pay offers users a convenient and secure way to pay at Alipay+ merchants in these countries using their GCash app. It eliminates the need to carry cash or exchange currencies, and it also offers competitive exchange rates and no service fees. Additionally, GCash Global Pay users can access exclusive deals and promotions from international merchants through its partnership with…

Union Bank of the Philippines recently achieved another first in the industry after securing a Certificate of Authority from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to operate as a virtual asset service provider (VASP). According to UnionBank this makes them the only liscenced universal bank in the Philippines to offer virtual asset exchange services. With the VASP license, UnionBank will be able to tap into new markets and opportunities, explore new ways of addressing evolving client needs. The adoption of blockchain technology has been integral to UnionBank’s future-proofing strategy, and the Bank has been actively exploring potential use cases, including…

The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) has joined forces with Personetics, a global provider of financial data-driven personalisation solutions, to push ahead with its advanced personal financial management (PFM) strategy. The Personetics Engagement Builder powers BPI’s newly launched Track and Plan tool to provide personalised insights for over four million active digital customers, tailored to their specific sensitivities, behaviors, and concerns. This tool analyses the financial activities of individual users on the app and shares personalised insights on spending habits. This provided users with self-service options for depositing funds, paying bills, and other transactions. The bank is also strengthening its…

Banking leaders find themselves at that pivotal time of the year when they must strategise their transformation goals for the upcoming year. In Asia, digital banking has become ingrained in consumers’ lifestyles, evolving into a core expectation and a decisive factor in their interactions and choice of financial service providers. As we approach the banking landscape of 2024 in Asia, leaders must address multifaceted challenges. These include integrating lifestyle-focused digital banking, delivering personalised offerings through AI-driven automation, providing unified customer views for customer servicing, embracing conversational banking, facilitating ease and acceleration in money transfers and cross border payments, inclusive banking,…

UnionBank of the Philippines recently launched four new credit cards with a variety of benefits to cater to the different needs and lifestyles of its customers. The UnionBank Rewards Card is suitable for those who shop and dine out often, offering 3 times the points on shopping and dining transactions. Points earned through the card also won’t expire. The UnionBank Cash Back Card is meant for value-minded customers who want to save on essentials. Cardholders can get up to 6% rebate on supermarket purchases, with savings of up to PHP 15,000 per year. Plus, cardholders can also earn 2% rebate…

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) recent moves to standardise QR payment codes across the Philippines are helping democratise consumer credit in the Philippines in unexpected ways, with Salmon leading the charge. Based on a global standard for secure payments, QR Ph code standard was developed to streamline the use of QR codes across the Philippines, given that the regulator recognised the immense potential of QR code technology as the most convenient and cost efficient means of money transfers and payments. “The use of QR-enabled payment and financial services has been gaining traction as an alternative to the traditional debit and…

Earned Wage Access (EWA) service provider Paywatch has officially launched in the Philippines, its third market after Malaysia and South Korea. The company will also launch in Indonesia before year-end. Paywatch is a bank-backed and regulator-approved EWA solution that allows employees to access their earned wages on-demand before payday. The company is already serving more than 500,000 employees globally across diverse sectors including retail, manufacturing, hospitality, BPO service centers, financial services, and F&B. Paywatch has grown 1,100% over the last 12 months, processing over US$4 million (PHP 227 million) in monthly wages through its app. In the Philippines, Paywatch is…

The Union Bank of the Philippines is using Red Hat OpenShift Service on Amazon Web Services (AWS) to accelerate its digital transformation and provide more personalised financial services to its customers. This has allowed UnionBank to migrate its mission-critical workloads from on-premises environments to AWS to launch new financial services faster and scale its workloads on demand. Additionally, UnionBank is now able to build new mobile banking products with microservices. In addition, UnionBank is using Red Hat OpenShift Service on AWS to create a consistent and unified experience across its public and private cloud environments. This will allow the bank…

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) signed an agreement to work together to oversee cooperatives that offer electronic money and payment services, including ATM deployment. The agreement sets out how the BSP and CDA will work together to regulate these cooperatives and exchange information to fulfill their respective mandates. BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona, Jr. said, “This collaboration is crucial in developing a comprehensive regulatory framework that considers the unique challenges and opportunities authorities face. This collaboration will result in regulations that are proportionate, relevant, and future-proof. The approach will also avoid regulatory arbitrage…

Union Bank of the Philippines has invested an additional PHP 300 million into the UnionDigital Bank following the PHP 900 million funding in July this year, according to PhilStar Global. The bank had disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange of the investment from its stock rights offering (SRO) revenues. Following the SRO held in February, UnionBank had allocated PHP900 million in government bonds but later decided to redirect PHP300 million to UnionDigital Bank on 29 September. The change was intended to support the digital bank’s continued expansion plans. Having launched its services last year, UnionDigital Bank managed to acquire 1.73…

Cera, a U.S. stock trading platform backed by Y Combinator, has announced its beta launch in the Philippines through a partnership with digital asset custody and infrastructure firm Fireblocks. The platform allows Filipinos and anyone anywhere in the world to invest in US stocks using stablecoins, such as USD Coin, Tether (USDT), and Binance USD from US$2. Cera also supports investments in fractional shares. As part of its launch, Cera is offering up to US$50 for new sign-ups that make eligible deposits. The platform also has a referral programme for users who introduce friends to the platform. The Cera app…

Philippines’ digital bank Tonik has tied up with life insurance company Sun Life Grepa Financial to launch Payhinga, an inclusive insurance product for loan borrowers. Payhinga will complement Tonik’s existing loan offerings and will be readily available to customers applying for loans. This new offering will give customers access to life and disability insurance with coverage up to 120% of their loan amount. Payhinga also offers a two-month payment grace period where customers can push back their upcoming loan installments in case of financial strain. Long Pineda, Country President of Tonik said, “The partnership with Sun Life Grepa will significantly…

Rakuten Viber, a messaging app, has launched new commercial tools for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the Philippines, according to a report by the Manila Buletin. The new tools are designed to help MSMEs improve their marketing and reach local users. This includes a public business profile, instant customer response, local product and service discovery, separation of customer messages from the merchant’s personal ones, and product and service catalog. In addition to the above, Viber also intends to roll out services like voice calls, broadcast messages, and fast and automatic replies that will advance communications for small business…

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is considering lifting the three-year moratorium on digital bank licenses, which has been in place since August 2021, according to PhilStar Global. The report quoted BSP Governor Eli Remolona Jr. saying that there are many groups, both foreign and local, that have expressed interest in obtaining a license to operate a digital bank in the Philippines. “There are many interested groups. The ball is on our court. We’re looking at the existing ones, the six digital banks that have licenses. Essentially, looking at their business models, we are learning and they are learning. …

HitPay, a payment processing platform for small businesses, has partnered with Philippines’ e-wallet GCash to expand its payment options for merchants in the country. Through this partnership, HitPay merchants in the Philippines can now offer three new payment methods; GCash, GGives, and GCredit. GCash is a mobile wallet app that allows users to send and receive money, pay for bills, and shop online. Meanwhile, GGives is an installment payment method that allows customers to pay for items over time. Users can select an installment plan that suits their budget and needs at checkout. Lastly, GCredit is a credit line offered…

Coins.ph, a Philippines-based cryptocurrency exchange and digital wallet provider, has partnered with Circle Internet Financial (Circle), a global fintech firm and issuer of USDC. The partnership aims to drive awareness of USDC-denominated remittances as a secure, low-cost and near-instant solution for international money transfers for the 18 million Filipino users of Coins.ph. USDC is a regulated, fully-backed digital dollar, or stablecoin, that is available 24/7, moves at internet speed and is always redeemable 1:1 for U.S. dollars. Because USDC runs on global blockchains – which have low barriers to entry and minimal transaction costs – it is playing a growing…

The world has undergone significant changes since the onset of the pandemic, especially in the financial industry’s journey towards digitalisation. The pandemic expedited the transformation of customer interactions by three years and pushed banks’ digital offerings ahead by seven years. However, as the pandemic-induced digitalisation boom subsides, the global economy braces for a recession, accompanied by a looming banking crisis triggered by the collapse of regional banks like Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). In light of these developments, it is crucial to assess the progress made and the challenges that lie ahead in the digital transformation of financial services. Not all…

Philippines’ e-wallet GCash has partnered with Visa to launch the new GCash card that will give millions of unbanked Filipinos access to the benefits of owning one. The GCash card can be used at over 100 million merchants in the Philippines and across the world. Any fully verified GCash user can order the card through the app without additional documents or approvals. The GCash card is powered by Visa, which means it can be used for payments overseas in over 200 countries and territories. Users who have the GCash card will also have access to GInsure, a free insurance that…