Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) has sealed a partnership with LenddoEFL for faster and more convenient financial account opening for Filipinos through an end-to-end digital verification and authentication solution. In Philippines, Know Your Customer (KYC) processes have always required a face-to-face or real-time online interview to onboard bank customers. “With digital KYC, consumers, particularly those who are unbanked, can open deposit accounts, apply for loans online, take out new insurance policies, do money transfers, and pay more than 2,000 billers through RCBC’s DiskarTech virtual bank in less than five minutes, anytime, anywhere. This is simply commoditizing customer convenience in an…

Philippines’ Securities and Exchange Commission issued a statement prohibiting another batch of 13 online lending operators from further engaging in lending activities. The regulator issued an immediate cease and desist to the owners and operators from promoting and facilitating unauthorised lending activities. Under Philippines regulations, a lending company must be granted approval from the SEC to operate, and anyone found in violation of the law may face a fine ranging from 10,000 pesos (566 USD) to 50,000 pesos (2614 USD) or imprisonment of six months to 10 years or both. Authorities further found that online lending operators have gained access…

In line with its thrust of ensuring the efficiency of payment systems in support of inclusive economic development, the Monetary Board has approved a policy requiring the adoption of a National Quick Response (QR) Code Standard for payments. The QR technology has emerged as a convenient and cost-efficient means of moving funds from one account to another. However there have been concerns raised recently by the creator of QR codes regarding its security. The adoption of a QR Code Standard on a national scale is expected to bring more Filipinos as well as micro and small enterprises onboard the financial…

CIMB Bank Philippines has partnered with Singapore-based fintech CredoLab to extend financial products to underbanked customers in the Philippines, starting with personal loans. CIMB Bank Philippines uses CredoApp (CredoLab’s white-label mobile application) to instantly score applicants, including “thin-file” customers who lack sufficient or any traditional credit bureau data. With CredoLab’s artificial intelligence-based credit scoring capabilities, Filipinos can apply for a credit loan of up to P1,000,000 even in the absence of fulfilling traditional banking requirements. Within 10 minutes, Filipinos can enjoy in-principle approvals on their personal loans through the CIMB App and without having to step foot into or queue…

Philippines’ fintech startup PayMongo recently announced that it has raised US$ 2.3 Million in its seed round. PayMongo’s investments round sees participation from an impressive list of investors including Stripe, PayPal’s co-founder Peter Thiel, Tinder’s co-founder Justin Mateen, Y Combinator, Founders Fund, Global Founders Capital, Soma Capital, and other angel investors. The Manila-based startup’s key focus is to simplify online payments, seemingly drawing inspiration from its investor, Stripe. In a media statement, PayMongo said that they have onboarded over 1,000 business since their inception in June 2019 and they claim that they have seen transaction growth at an average of…

On 25 & 26 September at SMX Convention Center Manila, Pasay City, Seamless Philippines 2019 will open its doors, bringing together the entire Philippines’ commerce & finance ecosystem to innovate, transform and disrupt. On the morning of 25 September, Guest-of-Honour, Mr Ephyro Luis B. Amatong, Commissioner, Securities and Commission will kickstart the keynote plenary session. The session will also feature insights from Christopher James Payne, President, Veritaspay and Angelica I. Sarmiento, Director IV, Department of Finance. That afternoon will bring keynotes about Driving innovation in banking by Lito Villanueva, EVP and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer of RCBC and Facebook’s…

Asia Kredit announced today a partnership with Lazada Philippines which will enable Lazada shoppers to purchase and apply for monthly payment installments on the Lazada Platform through AsiaKredit’s eShopaLoan. Filipino consumers will now have the option of paying for purchases made via the Lazada online marketplace and LazMall in fixed monthly installments. Loans range from Php 4,000 (US$75) to as much as Php 20,000 (US$380) over a repayment period of six months. eShopaLoan finances products within the Php 5,000 (US$95) to Php 50,000 (US$955) price range. To utilise the eShopaLoan option, Lazada customers can download the AsiaKredit pera247 app and…

227 Chinese nationals were arrested in Pasig City, Philippines, on suspicion of running a crypto investment scam targetting would be investor back in China. This was according to local media, The Inquirer. The 227 Chinese nationals all had Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) visa, which meant that they were only permitted to work within the special economic zone in Cagayan. The raid was reportedly conducted on Grapefruit which is a service provider of Golden Millenial Quickpay, an offshore cryptocurrency company licensed in the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA). CEZA’s license does not permit for entities to provide services onshore, which…

The Philippines is anticipated to launch a standardised QR code for payments by September, according to a report by Philstar. The plan to standardise QR payments in Philippines was first announced by the late BSP Governor Nestor A. Espenilla, Jr in July last year. With QR payments being increasingly popular especially within the ASEAN region, Philippines follows in the footsteps of countries like Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia in adopting a standardised QR payment to drive interoperability between e-wallet providers. The Chairman of Fintech Alliance.Ph, Lito Villanueva recently called for ASEAN regulators to standardise payment QR codes across the region, citing…

The ASEAN must standardize quick-response (QR) codes for digital payments platforms to facilitate and simplify regional trade. Lito Villanueva, Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) and chairman of FinTech Alliance.ph, said that the immediate standardization of QR codes for payments within the ASEAN is a critical positive development in realizing a common aspiration towards an ASEAN Economic Community. “These, of course, must be in collaboration with the ASEAN Bankers Association, country regulators, ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN BAC) and the FinTech country organizations, we can then make this a reality sooner than later,” Villanueva stated.…

The Overseas Filipino Bank (OFBank), a state-owned bank and a subsidiary of Land Bank of the Philippines, is planning to become a fully branchless, digital lender by mid-2020. Currently pending approval from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the country’s central bank, the OFBank will provide online lending, investments, insurance, bills payment and other financial services to overseas Filipinos, reports the Manila Bulletin. Land Bank president and CEO Cecilia C. Borromeo said she expects to “have that digital bank up and running by June 2020.” Borromeo said the IT system of Landbank will be tweaked to serve as the primary…

CIMB Bank Philippines announced that it has garnered 500,000 customers, approximately six months after opening its doors for business in the Philippines. The milestone was reached anchored on a strong proposition of co-creation and partnership between CIMB Bank and GCash, the leading payments platform in the Philippines with over 5 million downloads. The all-digital, mobile-first CIMB Bank PH was launched in early 2019 with a goal of bringing a unique and differentiated banking proposition to Filipinos. CIMB Bank PH had forged a partnership with GCash, to allow GCash’s customers direct, paperless and seamless access to savings account services, a product…

The Philippines government is pushing for innovation and entrepreneurship, introducing new regulations and programs to support young companies, and leading numerous projects to bring convenient e-government public services to the masses. The Philippines Innovation Act The Philippines’ president, Rodrigo Duterte, has signed a new law aimed at boosting innovation to help “promote growth and national competitiveness of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs),” according to a report by the SunStar Philippines. Signed on April 17, the Republic Act 11293, or the Philippine Innovation Act, aims to “remove obstacles to innovation by suppressing bureaucratic hurdles” and “encourage entrepreneurial attitude in order…

UnionBank of the Philippines recently became the first Philippine bank to successfully pilot blockchain-based remittance from Singapore to the Philippines. This was done in partnership with OCBC Bank, Singapore, using the Adhara liquidity management and international payments platform. Amid a continued push for financial inclusion for all Filipinos as aligned with the Philippine government’s mandate, UnionBank on June 27 used blockchain-based tokenized fiat to successfully remit from OCBC Bank in Singapore to an account holder at Cantilan Bank, a rural bank in Surigao Del Sur. This was made possible by combining the features of both the Adhara platform and UnionBank-UBX’s…

Philippines’ 7-Eleven is eyeing to deploy 300 ATMs in Metro Manila by next year. In doing so they will be teaming up with Japan’s Seven Bank, who is currently operating a network of 18,000 ATMs across 7-Eleven’s in Japan through a series of partnership with the local banks there. According to their announcement Philippines is the first country that Seven Bank’s services is made available outside of Japan, it is reported that they are currently in talks a number of banks in Philippines. The pilot will start with the initial 300 ATMs and then both parties will evaluate the feasibility…

OneConnect announced today, their partnership with Union Bank’s wholly-owned fintech subsidiary UBX to build what they claim to be the country’s first blockchain enabled platform geared towards meeting the banking needs of MSMEs in the Philippines. According to their press release, the blockchain enabled platform will be operational by 2019 and will be made more widely available by 2020. The platform’s supply chain financing will record crucial data on the blockchain to make it tamper-proof and traceable. Aside from supply chain financing, the parties involved stated that the platform also covers a wide range of business finance needs such as…

Philippines’ central bank reported that e-wallet penetration is growing faster in the Philippines and has surpassed credit card numbers. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) released this information in a financial inclusion dashboard, which states that e-money accounts rose by 22% to 33 million in 2018. This is composed of five million active e-wallets and 28 million prepaid cards linked to e-money, reported NewsBytes Philippines. Meanwhile, credit cards have only penetrated 9% of the population. The numbers seems to support the narrative that digital technologies like e-wallets can help the population access basic financial services. Philippines’ central bank seem to recognize that…

Philippines’ regulator, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has released its rules and regulations on crowdfunding as its way of providing certainty in the market so that startups and SMEs can access funding, while the public is given more investment options. In the Philippines, Section 8 of the Securities Regulation Code (SRC) provides that securities shall not be sold or offered for sale or distribution within the Philippines, without a registration statement duly filed with and approved by the Commission. However, to promote access to finance,  the new rules provides an exemption from registration of crowdfunding securities as long as everyone…

Soon, students and employees in the University of the Philippines (UP) will say goodbye to the typical barcoded ID cards and instead be given ID cards with radio frequency identification (RFID)/near-field communication (NFC) capabilities. The University has signed a memorandum of agreement with PayMaya, a prepaid virtual card platform that aims to serve Filipinos without access to credit cards on the 20th of June. The cards will soon be usable in any accompanying facilities that require a UP ID card, but will also double as a cashless payment mechanism inside the university. A Prepaid Virtual Credit Card According to University…

With more than 5 million downloads from Google Play, GCash is not only one of the Philippines most popular mobile banking apps, it is also one of the cheapest banking services providers, requiring no minimum maintaining balance compared to other leading banks and providers, according to an analysis by MyManila.net. GCash is a mobile money service regulated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the central bank of the Philippines, that lets users buy, load, purchase items, send and receive money, pay bill, and more, on any network in the country (not just Globe’s). GCash also offers the option to…