As Asia’s third largest recipient of remittances, the Philippines relies heavily on money sent home by around 10 million Filipinos who live and work overseas. In 2019, personal remittances accounted for 9.3% of gross domestic product, according to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). With COVID-19 accelerating digital payment adoption, fintech startups and payment providers have jumped on the Philippines’ massive remittance opportunity, inking key partnerships and launching innovative solutions to facilitate money inflows into the country. Last year, digital payment platform InstaReM expanded its offering for the Filipino market, launching cash payout options for recipients at approved outlets. The new…

Digital technologies and online platforms can help emerging markets advance financial inclusion by providing banking services to Gen Z’s, low-income households, and small businesses with typically little to no access to traditional financial institutions. But while unbanked populations can benefit greatly from advances in fintech services and online banking, these digital solutions also pose new risks which must be addressed properly, experts said during a recent virtual panel discussion. In the latest edition of Fintech Fireside Asia, top executives in the banking, fintech and fraud prevention sectors addressed the state of financial inclusion in the Philippines, the key initiatives being…

Huawei held its first virtual Asia-Pacific Intelligent Finance Summit 2021 with the theme “Accelerate Digital Transformation in Banking, New Value Together” on 29 July 2021. As economies across the Asia-Pacific region continue to recover and rebound, leading banks and financial institutions are accelerating digital transformation, seizing new digitalisation opportunities to reinvent themselves for what the future holds. This event attracted more than 1,300 financial industry customers, partners, industry experts and media across Asia-Pacific regions. Huawei invited its core customers and partners from the  financial industry which includes the likes of BDO Unibank, KASIKORN Business – Technology Group (KBTG), PwC and…

The London-based Financial Times-owned international monthly publication “The Banker” has named Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation’s (RCBC) Lito Villanueva as the Chief Innovation Officer of the Year at the Innovation in Digital Banking Awards 2021. The award is organised by The Banker, a UK-based English language international monthly financial affairs publication that was established in 1926 and is owned by The Financial Times. Villanueva who is the Executive Vice President and Chief Inclusion and Innovation Officer at RCBC has been at the helm of the bank’s digital transformation since his onboarding in 2019. The award highlights how RCBC under Villanueva’s digital…

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has launched the PhiliFintech Innovation Office (PIO) which will focus on the fintech regulations in the country. Launched under the Corporate Governance and Finance Department (CGFD) his move aims to further promote financial inclusion and, at the same time, protect investors and other financial consumers. The PIO will facilitate the processing of the registration of new fintech companies along with the appropriate department of the commission. It shall likewise serve as the first point of contact for existing fintech companies, which have been operating without proper regulation or authorisation, or which will introduce new…

NextPay, a digital platform that offers entrepreneurs banking solutions, has raised US$1.6 million (over P80 million) in seed funding. Singapore-based venture capitalist Golden Gate Ventures and Gentree Fund led the oversubscribed seed financing round. Other foreign investors that participated in the seed funding round are Tribe Capital, Broadhaven Ventures, 1982 Ventures, Saison Capital, and Razorpay, Rohit Mulani of GoTrade, and Abhinay Peddisetty and Chinmay Chauhan of BukuWarung. and Goodwater Capital also supported the funding exercise. Locally, NextPay’s seed funding was backed by Kickstart Ventures of the Ayala Group, Foxmont Capital, and First Asia Ventures, as well as angel investor Lisa…

A recent study of 2,000 global consumers by Mambu, the market-leading banking and financial services platform, revealed that both banked and unbanked individuals feel underserved, with 56% of banked customers claiming that there are other services they should be able to access. “With more than 290 million unbanked adults across Southeast Asia, including 65% of Filipino adults, the data that’s usually reported points us to emerging markets and geographical barriers to access; however, even consumers who are banked have reported gaps in financial accessibility,” said Myles Bertrand, Managing Director Asia Pacific, at Mambu. “Personalisation is going to be key for…

Philippines neobank Netbank has formed partnerships with 3 alternative lenders; Global Mobility Services (GMS), New Cross Credit Gate PH Inc. (Uploan) and Inclusive Financial Technologies, Inc. (Blend PH). This move will allow these lenders to expand their lending without needing to raise additional capital. By removing a layer of banking, Netbank said that it creates a more efficient balance sheet structure that ultimately benefits Filipino borrowers. The lenders will identify clients and pass these clients to Netbank, who will fund and book the loans on its balance sheet. Netbank will continue to expand its program of partnership with Filipino alternative…

Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation’s (RCBC) ATM Go has enabled cardless withdrawal for mobile point-of-sale terminals (mPOS) as part of its financial inclusion efforts. Aside from the regular ATM services that requires a card, ATM Go can now process cardless withdrawals via RCBC’s mobile apps. Transactions can be initiated via the RCBC app or through its DiskarTech financial inclusion app. Customers will need to log into either one of these apps and choose the cash withdrawal option in order to initiate the transaction. A reference number and OTP will be sent to the user which they will then use to withdraw…

Banking as a service platform Netbank has partnered with Indonesian SME lender Investree to expand loan offerings to SMEs in the Philippines. Investree Philippines aims to address the largely underserved US$200+ billion MSME credit gap in the Philippines by connecting SMEs with institutional investors through its marketplace platform. Both entities are collaborating to provide account opening services will allow Investree’s clients to finance their trade receivables, giving them vital cash to accelerate their growth. Investree Philippines is a fintech-based joint venture company between the Gotianun-led Filinvest Development Corp. (FDC) and Investree Singapore that received approval from the Philippines’ Securities and…

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) is awaiting a nod from regulators to start cryptocurrency trading, CNN has reported. PSE President and CEO Ramon Monzon believes that the bourse is ideal for crypto trading owing to its existing trading infrastructure and customer safeguard measures. He told CNN, “If there should be any exchange for cryptos, it should be done at the PSE. Why? Number one, it’s because we have the trading infrastructure. But more importantly, we’ll be able to have investor protection safeguards especially with a product like crypto.” Over the past few years the Philippine central bank, Bangko Sentral ng…

The Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMBC), a Japanese multinational banking and financial services institution, announced that it is set to acquire a 4.99% stake in the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) in a deal worth US$90.5 million (JPY 10 billion). This move is part of SMBC’s strategy to expand its franchise and strengthen digital banking in Asia. Eugene Acevedo, President, and CEO of RCBC, confirmed with the press that they intend to set up a digital banking arm and double down on tech investments with this capital injection. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has so far granted three digital…

Philippines digital and financial services firm Voyager Innovations announced that it raised US$167 million through its financial technology arm, PayMaya Philippines. This investment includes US$121 million in fresh funding and US$46 million from previously committed funds. Participating in the funding were existing shareholders Philippines telecoms PLDT, global investment firm KKR, and Chinese tech firm Tencent. Voyager welcomed IFC Financial Institutions Growth Fund, a fund managed by the IFC Asset Management Company (IFC AMC), as a new investor. IFC AMC is a division of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and an existing investor in…

Netbank announced that it will join the Mastercard Fintech Express programme which gives it access to a vast range of the latter’s digital-first products and enabling it to issue debit and credit cards under its partners’ brands. Through the initiative, fintechs are offered access to a suite of digital products to differentiate their offerings, as well as flexible commercial agreements for early growth stages to reduce barriers to entry. Mastercard also provides global licensing support with in-market teams to facilitate the acceleration of fintechs’ growth and expansion. Mastercard Fintech Express is a key pillar under Mastercard Accelerate, a fintech platform…

The Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) has rolled out an enabling digitalisation initiative with a new partnership with the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP) for the SynerFi Open Finance Network. This move comes days after the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) released its Open Finance Framework. The BSP’s Open Finance Framework’s main premise is consent-driven data portability, interoperability and collaborative partnerships between financial institutions and fintech players. Through the SynerFi (Synergy in Finance) Open Finance Network, member banks of the RBAP and eventually, cooperatives, microfinance institutions, and other industry players will be able to set up their own…

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has issued a circular to put a stop to any entities that are misrepresenting themselves as digital banks in their marketing activities. While BSP has only recently granted its first batch of licenses, several entities have been seen posing as digital banks despite operating under a different license to mislead the public. These entities were warned against misrepresenting the public with respect to their banking categories or the products and services that they have been authorised to offer. In the circular to amend the rules and regulations governing bank advertisements, these entities were told…

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has granted the third digital bank license to Singapore headquartered fintech DigibankASIA, one of the primary incorporators of UNObank. In the past few months, BSP has granted the other two licenses to state-owned Overseas Filipino Bank (OFBank) which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the LANDBANK in March and another to Tonik. UNObank will be helmed by Manish Bhai as CEO, a career banker and tech entrepreneur. Co-founder Kalidas Ghose is a recognised fintech influencer who led the effort to build FE Credit in Vietnam from scratch and created VP Banks digital bank ecosystem.…

Neobank Tonik announced that it has secured a digital bank license from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) as it has been operating under a rural banking license since 2019. A year later, BSP had issued a framework on the establishment of digital banks, clearing the way for Tonik to scale up and apply for a formal digital bank license. State-owned Overseas Filipino Bank (OFBank) which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the LANDBANK was the first digital only bank to be granted a license in March by the Philippines central bank. The development comes after the neobank’s public launch…

Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation’s (RCBC) financial inclusion super app DiskarTech is gaining ground as a preferred disbursement platform of Filipinos for social aid, loans proceeds, dividends, and other digital payments. Since the start of community quarantines in March 2020, RCBC has also disbursed P14.8 billion in government aid subsidy of the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Department of Labor and Employment to over 4.11 million households or over 20.56 individuals. In the last two months, DiskarTech averaged 83% in month-on-month growth in volume of received funds from Social Security System (SSS). Value of cash disbursements by the…

Philippines’ health maintenance organisation (HMO) Asalus Corporation which operates under the trade name Intellicare, partnered with Union Bank of the Philippines for ePaycard Digital Account Opening (eDAO). This helps to speed up the disbursement of professional fees, benefits, and other reimbursements for affiliated doctors. UnionBank offers an account opening facility that is efficient, paperless, and with a fully digital disbursement solution for the convenience of Intellicare affiliated doctors. To facilitate the opening of their accounts, the doctors will receive an SMS with a unique reference code which will be used to continue the application via the UnionBank app. Account opening…