Fintech Alliance.PH, the country’s largest association of fintech and digital players, had launched a multistakeholder national cybersecurity awareness and education campaign. The campaign with the aim to educate millions of smartphone and online users against phishing scams had kicked off on 29 May 2023 at Shangri La The Fort in Taguig City. The industry-led multi stakeholder national consumer cybersecurity campaign is being led by the Fintech Alliance in partnership with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), National Bureau of Investigation, Philippine National Police, Anti-Money Laundering Council, Securities and Exchange Commission, Insurance Commission, National Privacy Commission, National Telecommunications Commission, Department of…

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and BDO Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of BDO Unibank, will jointly develop a free online course on financial education. BSP and BDO Foundation will work on the rollout of a nine-module interactive online course on personal finance dubbed “FinEd e-Learning Course”. The course will feature topics such as financial planning, saving and budgeting, debt and investment management, digital financial literacy, fraud and scam prevention, the Personal Equity and Retirement Account, and financial consumer protection. It aims to expand the coverage and accelerate the implementation of financial education programmes in the country through…

The Philippines’ National Privacy Commission (NPC) concluded that the recent unauthorised deductions from multiple accounts from mobile wallet GCash amounting to PHP 37 million (approximately US$660,000) was the result of a phishing incident. This echoes what the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) Governor Felipe Medalla shared with reporters on the sidelines of the 23rd Financial Stability Board-Regional Consultative Group in Asia Meeting in Cebu. On 9 May 2023, the NPC had conducted an independent investigation to ascertain the extent of the alleged unauthorised transactions and determine if there is a possible compromise of personal data and other potential violations of…

Online money transfer service Wise announced that its users can now send up to PHP 9 million (approximately US$161,000) to the Philippines. This is almost 18 times more than what they could send previously. Users can send PHP to any individual and business bank accounts in Philippines. They can also send it to popular e-wallets such as GCash, PayMaya, GrabPay, Starpay, Bayad Wallet, TayoCash, ShopeePay, and JuanCash. While the limit for bank account transfers are at PHP 9 million, the transfer limit for e-wallets are at PHP 50,000 (approximately US$890). It usually takes 1–2 working days for the funds to arrive…

Netbank, a Philippines-based neobank that offers Banking-as-a-Service solutions, announced that it has closed its Series A funding round. The investment sum was not disclosed. The round was led by regional venture capital firm Beenext with participation from Kaya Founders and Oak Drive Ventures Inc. as well as individual investors. The funds will be used to expand its product suite with enhanced payments, accounts and lending solutions for Netbank’s client base comprising lenders, e-commerce platforms, payment companies and corporates. With its rural bank license, Netbank provides banking services on a fully white-labelled basis so that Filipino fintechs can accelerate their growth…

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) Governor Felipe Medalla said that the recent unauthorised deductions from mobile wallet GCash amounting to PHP 37 million (approximately US$660,000) was the result of a phishing incident and not hacking, according to a report by Philstar Global. Medalla echoed the claims made by GCash which denied that it was a hacking incident and went on to adjust the funds that were lost from its users. The governor spoke to reporters on the sidelines of the 23rd Financial Stability Board-Regional Consultative Group in Asia Meeting in Cebu that the incident occurred when the affected users…

Grab Philippines is reportedly in the midst of issuing refunds of PHP 6.7 million (US$ 118,500) to its users following the Philippine Competition Commission’s (PCC) orders to do so, according to the Manilla Bulletin. The e-hailing app needs to disburse refunds totaling PHP 25.4 million (US$ 452, 000). The PCC has imposed an additional PHP 9 million fine for its failure to fully refund its customers more than three years after it was first ordered to do so. Grab has already refunded PHP 18.78 million to its users which is 73.8 percent of the PHP 25.4 million that the e-hailing…

The economy in the Philippines is expanding at record speed, and its dynamic population – young, growing, and savvy at using mobile technologies – is set to become the key benefactor of the economic opportunities it creates, with a little help from financial institutions. Yet recent data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reveals that only 56 percent of adults in the Philippines have bank accounts. This means that more than 30 million Filipinos cannot access essential financial products, such as loans, savings accounts, and insurance. However, modern fintechs like Salmon are beginning to change this. There are many…

BillEase, a consumer finance app offering BNPL, is now available as a payment option on online travel platform Agoda to give Filipino travelers more flexibility to pay in installments without a credit card. This integration is enabled by Alipay+, a global cross-border digital payments and marketing solution operated by Ant Group. By selecting BillEase as a checkout option on both Agoda’s web and app platforms, travelers can split the total cost of purchases into either bi-weekly or monthly payments with up to 12 months of installments. Earlier this year, BillEase and Alipay+ announced their partnership to enable local customers in…

The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) has imposed another PHP 9 million (approximately US$160,000) fine on Grab Philippines for its failure to fully refund its customers more than three years after it was first ordered to do so. The latest fine is on top of the PHP 63.7 million (approximately US$1.13 million) in penalties that the PCC had imposed on Grab over the years since it acquired the Philippine operations from its then rival Uber in 2018. In a resolution on February 2023, the PCC imposed a six-million peso fine on Grab for violating three separate Commission orders for the company…

Manila-based LF Lending Services is on the verge of digital transformation, starting with the integration of telco data into existing credit decisioning models. Unique insights from telco data allow LF Lending to predict repayment behaviors with improved speed and accuracy. Telco data, as supplied by alternative data aggregator FinScore, serves as proof of creditworthiness for thin-file borrowers who may not have a bank account or credit history. FinScore Country Manager Christo Georgiev champions telco data saying, “It acts as a reliable basis for financial institutions to finally serve the underbanked credit market.” He continues: “Most people who seek LF Lending’s…

Adoption of digital financial services has risen substantially in the Philippines over the past years. As fintech and technology continue to revamp the Philippine financial landscape, we’ve curated a list of 13 upcoming fintech conferences and gatherings taking place this year in the Southeast Asian country. These large-scale events are set to bring together large crowds of local and international industry leaders to discuss some of the sector’s biggest trends and opportunities. IDC CIO Summit 2023 Philippines May 24, 2023 Philippines Recession, interest rate hikes, ongoing-geopolitical tension, supply chain issues, skills shortages: these trends are underpinning the markets in…

Philippines’ mobile wallet GCash set out to reassure its 81 million users that no funds have been lost from their app following multiple reports of unauthorised deductions from their personal accounts. Earlier reports said that close to PHP 37 million (approximately US$660,000) of its users’ funds were allegedly stolen by hackers. The unauthorised transfers was said to range from PHP 1,500 to PHP 47,000. The funds from the affected GCash accounts were reportedly transferred to accounts under Asia United Bank (AUB) and East West Banking Corp. (EWB). GCash denied claims of hacking though it did admit to receiving complaints from…

The FinTech Alliance Philippines encourages mobile phone users to register their SIM cards in compliance with the nationwide SIM Registration Act (RA 11934). Unregistered SIM cards will be deactivated after July 26, 2023, potentially affecting 20 percent of mobile phone users’ access to digital payments, electronic transactions, and one-time-pin authorizations. However, the original registration deadline was April 26, 2023 and it has been extended by 90 days to address digital literacy and government ID-related concerns. “Under this law, we aim to dramatically reduce cases of mule accounts, bots, and fraudulent transactions. This will improve the security, safety, and trust among…

Fintech unicorn Mynt (GCash) and digital bank Maya has carved out a place in the top 3 of LinkedIn’s ranking for the best workplaces to grow a career in the Philippines this year. The 3rd annual LinkedIn Top Companies had also featured other financial institutions including Citi and Prudential. The top 15 ranking looks at components like how employees are advancing both within a company and when they leave, how they’re upskilling while employed there, and more — revealing companies that help set people up to get ahead in their careers. When compiling the list, LinkedIn also considered factors like…

Since the term ‘fintech’ was first coined in the early 2010s, the financial technology sector and the ecosystem around it has undergone a massive evolution. A fluctuating economic climate has seen some startups go public, while others have gone under – meanwhile, the pace of innovation has witnessed new technology, business models, and the requisite regulatory modifications to contend with this swiftly-changing environment. To uncover more on where the fintech sector is heading and what trends are developing in different territories around Asia, Fintech News Malaysia Chief Editor Vincent Fong hosted a virtual webinar with Terry Chan, the Finance and…

Open banking solution provider Brankas has announced a new integration that will allow MPT DriveHub app users in the Philippines to reload using their local bank accounts. MPT Mobility is a subsidiary and the innovations arm of Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MPTC), the largest toll road developer and operator in the Philippines. The subsidiary expands and develops its portfolio of services by synthesizing eight operating units under its purview which includes the MPT DriveHub app, an all-in-one travel companion ap MPT DriveHub users can now choose from a wider range of reloading options as they top up their RFID accounts…

Fintech startup Salmon has selected Philippines-based alternative credit scoring provider FinScore to offer flexible financing terms and generous loan amounts to merchants as well as the ability to defer shopping bills over several monthly installments to buyers. Powered by FinScore’s telco data and advanced analytics, Salmon is now available in dozens of outlets where the partner merchants receive their net proceeds upfront. In 2022, FHL Financing Company had launched Salmon which is a consumer lending-first fintech startup in the Philippines with the aim to make shopping simple, intuitive, and rewarding for both merchants and consumers. According to Consumer Pulse Q4…

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) governor Felipe M. Medalla believes payment connectivity between the five largest economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), namely Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, could be implemented within the next two to three years. The initiative will seek to deepen financial integration and facilitate inter-regional trade by enabling faster, cheaper and more transparent cross-border transactions. “Our vision really is to be one with ASEAN-5 to have cross-border payments,” Medalla said in a seminar hosted by Bank Indonesia (BI) in Bali last week. He stated that the implementation of payment systems linkage…

In 2022, startup investment reached new heights in the Philippines, defying trends observed around the world and the global funding downturn. Fintech companies took the lion’s share in early-stage private funding, securing 39% of all investments raised in 2021-2022, a new report by Foxmont Capital Partners, a venture capital (VC) fund supporting Filipino entrepreneurs, says, showcasing the sector’s important weight in the local startup ecosystem. The annual Philippine Venture Capital Report, released last week, looks at the state of venture funding in the Southeast Asian country, sharing key trends emerging as well as insights from industry stakeholders. According to the…