Alibaba Cloud Philippines is set to host the “Alibaba Cloud Day Philippines: Fintech Summit 2022” at the at Grand Hyatt Manila on 21 June 2022. During this half-day summit, attendees will hear from industry leaders about the latest policies, hottest trends and challenges in the financial services industry. This includes the current state of fintech in the Philippines, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ take on the regulatory aspect, the rise of digital wallets and how to create a customer-compliant onboarding experience among others. Esteemed speakers joining the summit include representatives and industry leaders from Alibaba Cloud, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, GCash,…

Philippines’ mobile wallet GCash has disbursed more than PHP 2.5 billion in cash loans in just 10 months since the launch of GLoan. According to GCash, this reflects the significant demand for affordable and fair lending rates among Filipinos. Offering low and easy payment schemes, GLoan allows pre-qualified users to apply for loans from PHP 1,000 to PHP 50,000. The repayment period varies from five, nine or 12 months, with no other requirements needed. GLoan uses its in-house trust platform GScore for credit scoring purposes. Meanwhile, GCash’s buy now, pay later (BNPL) offering GGives has disbursed PHP 345 million from…

In the Philippines, consumers were found to be spending much more time on digital bank Tonik than any other finance app. This is according to a new report by Data.ai, an app analytics startup formerly known as App Annie, that looks at the most popular apps for Q1 2022. The Top Apps and Games Market Pulse Rankings Q1 2022 put the Tonik mobile app at the top of the list, ranking it first in the Philippines among finance apps by time per user. Time per user refers to the duration of a user session. A session begins when the user…

Philippines’ mobile wallet GCash announced that it had surpassed PHP 500 billion in Gross Transaction Value (GTV) in March 2022. GCash said that it has daily logins and transactions of up to 29 million and 19 million respectively. To date, eighty three percent of the Philippine adult population, or 60 million Filipinos, already have a GCash account. GSave savings account now has 5.3 million depositors while its investment marketplace, GInvest, has 3 million registered users representing 77% of the Unit Investment Trust Fund (UITF) accounts in the Philippines. GCredit, the e-wallet’s first foray into digital lending, has already provided PHP…

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has named Bernadette Romulo-Puyat as its newest Deputy Governor (DG) who will be assuming office today. Sec. Romulo-Puyat will be the fifth DG of the BSP, joining DG Francisco Dakila Jr. of the Monetary and Economics Sector, DG Chuchi Fonacier of the Financial Supervision Sector, DG Mamerto Tangonan of the Payments and Currency Management Sector, and DG Eduardo Bobier of the Corporate Services Sector. Sec. Romulo-Puyat will be assigned to oversee the Program Management Office for the new BSP complex in New Clark City, the central bank’s regional operations, and its advocacies on financial…

COVID-19 accelerated trends toward remote banking and digitalisation, forcing financial institutions to embrace new technologies and processes to keep their businesses functional despite social distancing restrictions. Now, with more and more people relying on digital solutions for interactions and transactions, the industry is turning to the next set of challenges, actively seeking to reimagine customer journeys to not only differentiate themselves from competitors, but also capture new generations of tech-savvy customers. In a new paper, cybersecurity technology firm OneSpan explores how e-signatures, digital identity verification and authentication technologies can unlock new opportunities for financial institutions, highlighting what it believes are the top…

The Philippine Dealing System Holdings Corp. (PDS Group) announced the launch of a fully digitally native bond, issued on a distributed ledger technology (DLT) network powered by Hashstacs (STACS), a Singapore-headquartered fintech firm. The digital bond was issued by the Union Bank of the Philippines for PHP 11.00 billion or approximately US$ 210 million and priced at 3.25% p.a. for a tenor of 1.5 years. PDS Group subsidiary Phil. Depository & Trust Corp. (PDTC), the national Central Securities Depository for debt and equities, and STACS embarked on the project, a proof of concept to explore, use, and determine efficiencies of…

The Union Bank of the Philippines has digitally transformed and strengthened its Supply Chain Finance (SCF) solution platform to mitigate the losses endured by micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). The solution also aims to simplify operations and financial management across MSMEs supply chain ecosystems. As the COVID-19 pandemic challenged business processes, most MSMEs had to keep up by improving their supply chain system to stay competitive amidst the uncertainties of the pandemic. “This platform contributes effectively to sales for cash management, deposits, SME loans, and business banking enrollment. With SCF, the bank is introduced to an effective wholesale…

In the Philippines, the market entry of new, digital-first challenger banks is shaking up the banking industry, forcing incumbents to put an emphasis on improving customer experiences to not only win new customers, but also retain existing ones. During the latest Fintech Fireside Asia panel discussion, top executives from Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) and Philippine National Bank, two of the country’s largest banks, Tyme, a forthcoming digital challenger bank, and Backbase, a fintech software provider, discussed changing consumer expectations, delving into some of the initiatives each of them has launched to differentiate from competitors and provide superior customer experiences.…

The widespread shift to online channels during COVID-19 has seen scams and fraudulent activities surge. A new study by Onfido, a provider of identity verification solutions, highlights an increase of 44% in identity fraud since 2019 as a result of the global pandemic, a trend which the firm predicts will continue this year onward. The Identity Fraud Report 2022, which shares insights gained from an analysis of Onfido customers’ data collected from October 1, 2020 to October 1, 2021, shows that during this period, the average identity fraud rate stood at 5.9%, compared to an average rate of 4.1% in…

The use of EGov Pay, a system that enables digital payment for government services, jumped by 467 percent to over 91,000 transactions at end of 2021 from around 16,000 transactions a year earlier, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). The BSP also reported that the value of EGov Pay transactions increased by 300 percent, from around Php 61 million in 2020 to nearly Php 246 million in 2021. The most common payments processed through EGov Pay are fees for government clearances as well as taxes. From only two government billers when the facility was launched in 2019, 484…

GCash, a Philippines’ mobile wallet operated by Mynt under Globe’s corporate venture builder 917Ventures, announced that it now has over 60 million registered users and more than five million merchants nationwide. Additionally, GCash said that it records 29 million daily logins, with a peak in daily transactions at 19 million. According to data.ai which was formerly known as App Annie, GCash has 5x more smartphone monthly active users than the next highest e-wallet app in the Philippines as of April 2022. GCash offers a full suite of financial services such as money transfers, e-commerce, savings, investment, insurance, and just recently,…

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Philippine Payments Management Inc. (PPMI) will launch three e-payment streams as part of a push to broaden the use of digital payments over the next two years. BSP’s Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said the central bank and PPMI will launch Bills Pay, Request to Pay, and Direct Debit facilities. Bills Pay seeks to improve the existing fragmented bills payment mechanism for retail customers. This will allow them to pay their electricity, water, and telephone bills even if the accounts of the customer and the biller are with different banks or other financial…

The latest research by the International Data Corporation (IDC) and Thought Machine, a cloud native core banking technology firm, revealed that 40% of banks in the Asia Pacific will make significant changes to their current core banking systems in the next three years. The “A Clear Path Ahead: Migrating to Digital Core” report found that the transformation of core systems is now becoming a priority with 75% of banks saying that they have delayed full-blown replacements. Banks are facing a reality check when it comes to legacy core banking systems which present several challenges. Among them is the inability to quickly bring…

Philippines’ fiat and crypto wallet services provider Coins.ph announced that it has closed a US$30 million Series C financing led by Ribbit Capital, and joined by other strategic investors. The company said that the new capital will be used to further expand its Web3 ecosystem and presence throughout Southeast Asia. It will also be used to reinforce the platform’s crypto-native credentials and add new products and services. Coins.ph’s current growth plans include adding more cryptocurrency tokens, upgrading and relaunching the Coins.Pro exchange, offering additional crypto-focused merchant and payment services, supporting GameFi and guild management products, and entering new geographies. The…

Philippines’ mobile wallet GCash has teamed up with Generali Philippines to offer four affordable insurance packages on GCash’s GLife feature. GLife is a lifestyle “mini app” within GCash that offers food, groceries, gadgets, fashion, beauty products, and now insurance to help Filipinos secure their health and finances, especially amid the pandemic. GCash users can now have access to Generali’s four insurance packages via GLife from PHP 270. The GenProtect Basic 50, GenProtect Plus 50, GenProtect Basic 100 and GenProtect Plus 100 plans can also be found by typing “Generali Philippines” into the search bar. “We are proud to have this…

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) says the issuance of the executive order on the adoption of digital payments for government disbursements and collections is a welcome move. The executive order mandates all departments, agencies, and instrumentalities of the government, including state universities and colleges and government-owned or -controlled corporations, and enjoins local government units to utilise digital channels in the disbursement and collection of payments. For all disbursements including the distribution of financial assistance among others, the executive order requires government entities to transfer funds directly into the recipient’s transaction account, whether held in a government or private financial…

Grab, through its SEC-licensed lending arm known as Grab Financial Services Philippines, announced that it has launched its new loan service programme for its merchant partners known as Quick Cash. With Quick Cash’s fast disbursal and easy application process, merchants can easily acquire a business loan that is tailored to their current needs, with no collateral required. Merchants can apply for financing from PHP 50,000 up to PHP 499,000 with a flexible repayment term from 6 to 12 months. Those interested will have to confirm their merchant details with Grab with no additional requirements needed, and they will be set…

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is exploring applications of machine learning (ML) techniques, particularly in the areas of natural language processing, nowcasting, and banking supervision. Natural language processing at the BSP is used to convert text into data to produce a quantitative summary, such as the news sentiment index and economic policy uncertainty index that are currently being developed. The BSP also employs ML approaches to generate nowcasts of regional inflation and domestic liquidity. These models supplement the BSP’s existing suite of models for macroeconomic forecasting. In banking supervision, the BSP aims to utilise ML techniques to enhance its…

Peppermint Innovation, an Australian fintech listed on the ASX, announced that its subsidiary has secured an Electronic Money Issuer (EMI) license from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). The EMI license authorises Peppermint Bizmoto Inc. (PBI) to deliver e-wallet services through its bizmoto mobile app. bizmoto has integrated with fund transfers services such as InstaPay, PESONet and with non-banking institutions for cash-in and cash-out services. The company said that it will soon start work on a pilot programme with a local community to facilitate financial inclusion by encouraging members to become bizmoto users so they can immediately access digital payments…