Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) has partnered with payment gateway providers SwiftPay and Dragonpay to offer more digital payment options for online consumers and merchants. Through these partnerships, RCBC’s customers can now use their mobile banking app to pay when they shop online. The bank said in a statement that this move is part of its commitment to fast-track digitalisation in the country in line with the Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap led by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). “We support RCBC’s vision of reaching out to the financially underserved through their DiskarTech mobile app. We believe this collaboration between…

UnionDigital Bank, the digital banking subsidiary of Union Bank of the Philippines, has partnered with an integrated, fully digital health and wellness platform mWell in an effort to push financial inclusion in the country. Through this partnership, UnionDigital will intergrate its banking services into mWell’s app so that its users will have a holistic health and financial wellness experience. Moving forward, mWell and UnionDigital Bank aim to make healthcare services more affordable by offering digital banking products, such as medical emergency loans and flexible payment terms. “Joining forces with UnionDigital Bank is a major step towards improving the overall healthcare…

Philippines’ mobile wallet GCash reports that its loan disbursements had reached PHP 50 billion in 2022 though its GCredit offering. GCash credited the growth of its loan book to its credit affiliate Fuse Lending, a consumer and business lending marketplace. Fuse Lending has been leading GCash’s lending initiatives through three products; GCredit, which is in partnership with regional banking giant CIMB Bank, GGives, and GLoan. GCredit gives GCash users an accessible credit line that can be used in QR-based, online, and bills payments. Meanwhile, GGives is a buy now, pay later (BNPL) product that enables customers to purchase from their…

The Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) assures the Filipino public that the failures of three U.S. banks in less than a week has “no substantial nor material impact” on the local banks. BAP said in a statement that Philippines’ banks have diversified deposit bases that include all sectors of the local economy, allowing them to continuously provide the liquidity needs of their clients. Additionally, banks in the Philippines continue to have capital and liquidity ratios that exceed the requirements set by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). The prudential measures implemented by the BSP provides the necessary support to…

Philippines’ mobile wallet GCash’s customers can now open an UNO Digital Bank account directly from the app and access its digital banking products through #UNOready@GCash. Filipino citizens who are at least 18 years old, and who are fully verified GCash App users with active mobile numbers and mailing addresses registered in the Philippines, are eligible to open an #UNOready savings account. The new offering is a savings account that offers up to 4.25% interest p.a. where the interest is credited daily. It has no requirements for a minimum balance and does not charge any service fees. Additionally, customers can get…

Philippines’ crowdfunding platform Investree will integrate Provenir’s data, decisioning and AI capabilities to provide accessible and inclusive financing to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Provenir’s platform provides Investree Philippines with the capability to access, evaluate, and process a wide range of data sources to create accurate risk models, improving the quality of risk assessments and decisioning for financing applicants. Through the Provenir Marketplace, users can integrate with multiple data sources, such as credit bureaus, fraud detection providers, and social media activity through a single API to provide a comprehensive view of the applicant’s creditworthiness and financial standing. Investree Philippines is…

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has given all BSP-supervised financial institutions (BSFIs) until 1 July 2023 to fully adopt the National QR Code Standard (QR Ph). The guidelines were issued via a memorandum that provides for the transition of non-QR Ph codes for electronic payments services to the QR Ph standard before the deadline. Payment service providers (PSPs), including those participating in the InstaPay automated clearing house, are required to submit the status of their compliance with the QR Ph standard within 30 days from the date of the memorandum. Following that, non-QR Ph codes or proprietary QR codes…

Philippines’ Security Bank has selected ACI Worldwide, a global provider of real-time payments and digital payment software solutions, to help strengthen its real-time payment capabilities. ACI Worldwide’s Enterprise Payments Platform solution will provide full payment hub capabilities for low- and high-value payments, including payment processing, domestic scheme gateways and SWIFT on ISO 20022 standards on a single platform. The cloud-native real-time payment platform will enable Security Bank to provide secure services across consumers, merchants and corporate payments with emerging and new payment types. ACI provides the central infrastructure for Indonesia’s real-time payment initiative BI-FAST, Malaysia’s Real-time Retail Payments Platform as well…

Financial services firms across the Asia Pacific are facing an ever-increasing array of data and technology challenges stemming from both the growth in the volume of customer and business data being generated and the proliferation of data siloes across different applications and platforms.  This has led to an urgent need for financial organisations to access, manage, and leverage their data effectively to improve operational efficiency, enhance decision-making, and, ultimately, better serve their customers. In a recent survey by InterSystems, a provider of data management solutions involving 176 leaders in the APAC region, several vital data and technology challenges were identified…

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said that it will continue to work with banks to lower or waive transaction fees for smaller e-payments. The regulator is looking to make financial digitalisation more inclusive in line with the BSP’s Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap 2020-2023. The roadmap aims to convert half of retail payments volume into digital form and to onboard 70 percent of Filipino adults onto the formal financial system within this year. “I am sure that the Bangko Sentral and our partners in the banking system will be able to find a cost-sharing system that excludes payments from fees,…

BTI Payments is further strengthening the presence of fast and easy payments in the country, through their latest partnership with Lawson Philippines. Under the tie-up, BTI’s Pay&Go kiosks are now present in Lawson convenience store branches nationwide. A wholly-owned subsidiary of Australia-based Banktech, BTI Payments is certified by the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas as an operator of payments systems that develops and deploys payments kiosks and independent ATMs. Pay&Go kiosks enable customers to easily conduct their financial errands in one machine. When transacting through Pay&Go, customers can add funds into their GCash, Maya and Shopeepay digital wallets. Bills payment for…

BNPL and consumer finance app BillEase has partnered with Malaysian payment gateway provider iPay88 to provide merchants with flexible payment options for their customers. This is made possible through BillEase’s easy-to-implement integration stack which enables enterprises to grow their businesses and offer their customers BNPL payment options through this partnership. The integration stack is powered by Singapore-based technology company OpenFabric, enabling iPay88 to quickly and easily integrate BillEase’s payment methods. The integration allows the merchants’ technical teams to deploy a BNPL solution in 1-3 days. Through this partnership, online and offline retailers will now be able to offer shoppers three installment…

Booming digitalization and increased government support have fueled the growth of the Philippines’ fintech sector. In recent years, the country has witnessed an increase in the number of fintech startups and recorded strong growth in fintech funding activity. In 2021, Filipino fintech startups secured a record of US$840 million in funding, up by a staggering 513% from 2020’s total of US$137 million, data from UOB show. In 2022, though investments slowed down amid a global startup funding contraction, fintech companies managed nevertheless to secure the third largest sum across ASEAN, raising a total of US$344 million. The sector is also…

Singapore Management University (SMU) is a melting pot of the region’s future leaders of innovation and business. It has been making a global impact through its expertise in Asian-centric knowledge — its programmes are geared towards nurturing future leaders with the competencies to thrive in the Asian Century. Part of its ability to achieve such deep expertise is a world-class faculty and diverse student body, hailing from all parts of Asia. SMU sat down for a chat with Mai Thi Hoai Thu, an alumnae of the Master of IT in Business (MITB) Artificial Intelligence programme about her MITB journey and…

HitPay, a Singapore-based payment platform for SMEs, has partnered with Filipino BNPL and consumer finance app BillEase to offer local businesses card-free installment payment option to their customers at checkout. Through BillEase, online and offline retailers can offer shoppers three installment options at checkout with interest rates between 0% or 3.49 percent. SMEs will be able to access a full range of payment methods and payment infrastructure with a free account on HitPay. HitPay also provides free business software — including a free website builder, in-app pos system, no-code e-commerce plugins, and an invoice generator — with zero setup or…

Despite a contraction in startup funding, 2022 was a fruitful year for the Philippines’ fintech industry, which saw the government and regulators continue to support the sector through conducive initiatives, growing demand for digital financial services, and an overall maturing of the industry. Filipino fintech companies raised about US$344 million in funding in 2022, making up 8% of total fintech funding in ASEAN that year, according to the Fintech in ASEAN 2022 report by UOB, PwC Singapore and the Singapore Fintech Association. The sum makes the country the third biggest recipient of fintech funding across the region and is a…

In the Philippines, the fintech industry has been rising steadily, driven by booming digitalization, a conducive regulatory environment, and the government’s ongoing efforts to improve access the financial services. In 2022, consumer adoption of digital financial services continued to increase, with a study estimating a 75% increase in demand for online loans, and a 49% increase in demand for mobile wallets. Cryptocurrencies as well continued to see traction, eventually reaching a penetration rate of about 15%, according to Finder’s Crypto Adoption September 2022. To sustain the growth of the Philippine fintech industry, investors extended their support in the sector, pouring…

Philippines’ mobile wallet GCash can now be used abroad in Japan, Australia, and Italy with international SIM cards through the beta launch of GCash Overseas. GCash claims to be the e-wallet the first and only in the country to do so. The e-wallet secured the necessary approval from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to kick off the launch. This enables 1,000 Filipino users in Japan, Australia, and Italy to sign up for GCash even without a Philippine SIM. Once they’re fully verified, Filipinos can begin signing up for GCash, send money for free through the GCash-to-GCash feature, pay for…

Fintech Alliance.PH, the country’s largest association of fintech and digital players, has appointed Zdenek Jankovsky as the committee chairman for financing and lending. He is the Executive Director and Treasurer at Home Credit Philippines (HCPH). Through his expertise, Jankovsky will be working on promoting responsible lending with emphasis on protecting Filipinos’ financial health. He aims to lead the discussion of loans, lending, and credit and address any negative perception to provide more Filipinos with a better understanding of these topics. The Fintech Alliance.PH has over 70 corporate members and generates over 90 percent of digital-initiated financial transactions nationwide. “It is…

The Gobi-Core Philippine Fund is now a Co-Investment Partner (CIP) of the Philippine government’s Startup Venture Fund (SVF), one of the first since the fund’s inception in 2021. Through this partnership, Gobi-Core will be able to co-invest with the SVF in Philippine-based high-potential startups while bridging these investees to the rest of the ASEAN region. The investment partners will provide mentorship, managerial oversight, business networks or other support necessary for capacity building. In addition to that, the startups may be enrolled in DTI’s current accelerator or incubator program to assist them further. The SVF is a joint effort by the…