Tap a multi-currency card in Tokyo, and the payment looks no different from any other card transaction. Behind the tap, however, is a different story as the issuer has to identify the purchase currency, find the matching wallet, decide whether another balance should cover a shortfall and apply foreign exchange where required.  The transaction must then be authorised, settled and reconciled across the programme’s records and external partners. More customers are making the kind of payments that expose this complexity.  Cross-border transactions on Asia-Pacific-issued Visa cards grew at more than twice the rate of domestic transactions in 2025, while spending…

Apple Pay is now live in the Philippines, giving iPhone and Apple Watch users another way to tap and pay in stores, apps and websites. Apple announced on 4 August 2026, and was confirmed by Visa and Mastercard later that same day, that users in the Philippines can now make purchases with Apple Pay using iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad and Mac. The rollout comes after months of waiting in which BSP had earlier classified Apple Pay as a technology service provider rather than an Operator of Payment System, clearing one regulatory question around its entry into the country. The remaining…

Ever wondered how much the people running the Philippines’ biggest banks actually get paid? The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), Metrobank and BDO Unibank disclosed a combined PHP 928.77 million in compensation for their top executive teams in 2025. BPI reported the largest pool at PHP 392.12 million, followed by Metrobank at PHP 306.13 million and BDO at PHP 230.52 million. These are team totals rather than individual salaries. Philippine bank filings group the President or CEO together with several other highly paid executives, so the disclosures do not show exactly what Jose Teodoro “TG” K. Limcaoco (the President…

Free bank transfers have become much easier to find in the Philippines. Based on the latest list drawn from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ Supervised Financial Institutions with Zero-Peso and Waived PESONet and InstaPay Fees (For Individual Clients) disclosure as of 13 July 2026, 17 financial institutions offer free InstaPay transfers without conditions, while another four waive the fee only under certain terms. The PESONet list is even longer where we counted 31 institutions with free, unconditional PESONet transfers, alongside another three with conditional zero fees. This guide to free InstaPay and PESONet fees follows the list set out by…

Fuel costs remain one of the most unpredictable expenses for Filipino motorists as pump prices have moved up again recently, and drivers are feeling the difference every time they gas up. Even a small increase can add up quickly for households that rely on regular fuel spending, especially when the same vehicle is used for daily commutes or work. Luckily, these days, more banks and financial institutions are now trying to turn that everyday expense into a rewards opportunity, with drivers looking for a fuel rebate in the Philippines can find offers across different fuel stations. But the savings do…

Recent talks around the block have made it clear that banks do want AI, but the latest news has now asked them, should we? In May 2026, HSBC CEO Georges Elhedery said generative AI will “destroy certain jobs” and create new ones, while urging employees not to fight the change. Standard Chartered has gone further, saying it plans to cut 15% of its corporate function roles by 2030 as it uses AI and automation to slim operations, improve productivity and lift returns. But those examples of how AI is affecting companies do not necessarily mean banks in Southeast Asia will…

Banks across Southeast Asia have spent years making SMS one-time passwords (OTPs) feel like a mark of safety, the Philippines included. Customers learned to treat the code arriving on their phone as the final signal that a transaction was safe to complete, but that familiar routine is now reaching its expiry date. From 30 June 2026, Philippine financial institutions are expected to limit the use of SMS OTPs for high-risk transactions and adopt stronger, less interceptable forms of authentication. The shift is likely to bring wider use of biometric checks inside banking apps, push-based approvals and liveness verification, giving banks…

For most people, payment systems remain invisible until something goes wrong. Yet behind every digital transfer, securities settlement, and interbank payment sits a core infrastructure designed to move money safely and predictably. In the Philippines, that infrastructure takes the form of the Real-Time Gross Settlement system, widely known as PhilPaSS, which now operates at a scale reflecting the growing intensity of modern financial markets. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported that in 2025 alone, the Peso RTGS system handled PHP 601.32 trillion in total transaction value, a level equivalent to roughly 20 to 30 times the country’s gross domestic product.…

The Philippines has steadily grown into one of Southeast Asia’s more active crypto markets, shaped by a strong remittance culture and a population that has grown increasingly comfortable with digital finance. At the centre of it all sits the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), which oversees cryptocurrency activity through its Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) framework. Anyone looking to buy Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency locally will need to go through platforms that fall under this framework. Transactions routed outside of it do not carry the same regulatory protection. Access to Bitcoin, at least in a regulated sense, runs through…

I’ll be the first to admit, I’m not a banker. What I am, however, is an enthusiastic saver who enjoys exploring different savings options and finding the best ways to make my money work for me. Over the years, I’ve realised that choosing where to save is just as crucial as the act of saving itself. A good savings strategy isn’t just about setting money aside. For me at least, it’s about maximising returns while ensuring accessibility and security. For those of us who prioritise saving, the real question isn’t whether we should save, it’s how and where we should…

Like most fast-food chains in Southeast Asia, Jollibee in the Philippines is not something people plan for weeks in advance. It is the type of meal that almost everyone thinks of when they want something that is fast and (used to be) cheap. We can see that families stop by after school, workers grab a quick meal between shifts, and parents bring their children there without much thought. But the rising cost of food now seems to make this “tradition” fade away. Which is why the idea of paying for that meal later feels worth paying attention to, especially at…

There has been a way, or there was one, to run a nationwide digital bank in the Philippines without actually being one. But that will soon be over now as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is tweaking the rules that will directly affect how fintechs, digital lenders, and even some consumer platforms scale their banking services. The crux of it is a new threshold that sounds simple but carries weight, where it wants to make sure all of the rural banks that are using digital platforms will now need to ensure that no more than 30% of their customers are…

Discussions about the future of banking often revolve around digital channels, cloud migration and mobile apps. At Mobile World Congress 2026 in Barcelona, Huawei placed the spotlight on what comes next. During its Digital Finance session, the company gathered financial institutions and technology partners to discuss how artificial intelligence is beginning to reshape the foundations of modern banking. The event carried the theme “Powering Resilient Intelligence, Co-creating Finance Future” and served as the backdrop for Huawei to introduce upgrades to its Banking AI and Foundation Model Solutions aimed at supporting the next phase of industry transformation. Attention quickly turned to…

Financial institutions are rapidly turning to artificial intelligence to reshape how banking works. AIs are not only there to help banks detect fraud, in which 90% of banks are said to be doing so, but they are also used in lending, where machine learning models are said to have helped improve default prediction accuracy by 15% to 25%, all while reducing loan losses by as much as 30%. That could be why the total spending on AI within financial services has already surpassed US$35 billion, and is now on the course to reach US$97 billion by 2027, according to a…

When does a short-term microloan become a 277% annual interest story? That question surfaced this week after a report by Nikkei Asia examined the effective cost of in-app loans offered to motorcycle riders in the Philippines by Grab. The story calculated that some of these loans carry annual effective interest rates (EIR) of up to 277%, significantly higher than the advertised “simple interest monthly” rate shown inside the app. Following the report, Grab Financial Group Philippines issued an official statement to Fintech Alliance.PH, which was subsequently shared with us, outlining how its microloan product is structured and why it believes…

At the end of the day, every bank is in it to make a profit. Nobody signs up for the banking game planning to lose money. But if you’ve been watching the digital-first banking scene across Southeast Asia, you’ll know that turning a profit has been more of a dream than a reality for most. Just look at Malaysia, where recent months have been full of C-level exits in the digital banking space. Scroll through Fintech News Malaysia, and it’s obvious that a lot of these departures come down to one thing: The relentless pressure to actually make the business…

Saving money is not just about discipline. Ask anyone who has been saving for a while, and they will tell you that where you keep your cash matters just as much as how much you set aside. After all, most of us are not saving just for the sake of saving. We want our money to grow while it sits there. And, honestly, who does not like a bit of “free” money in the form of interest? For years, people have parked their savings in all sorts of places. Cash at home, informal savings groups, or traditional bank accounts that…

Digital wallet usage has become so deeply embedded in daily life that it’s hard to imagine a time without it. It is expected that in 2025, the Philippines will surpass 80 million registered e-wallet accounts, reflecting a threefold increase within five years. In fact, the Philippines came in second (87%), just behind Indonesia (92%), in e-wallet usage among Southeast Asian countries, respectively, using the payment method, especially QR payments and mobile payment apps, according to the 2024 Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes Study. Not only that, e-wallets were the most used online financial service among Filipinos that year, surpassing even digital…

The Philippines has always had a colourful fintech scene, but 2025 feels like one of those years where everything moves at once. New players jump in, regulators swing hard, global names finally arrive, and long-time concerns suddenly turn into national debates. Before we begin, let me tell you that this list is not in any particular order. Now, let’s walk through the biggest stories that shaped the year so far, and how they all fit together in the wider story of money, technology, habits, and a country that’s still figuring out what digital finance should look like. Manny Pacquiao Steps…

Banks nowadays often talk about AI ever since it became this shiny new thing a few years back, but in a closed-door room in Manila, the conversation took a direction that many in the industry rarely voice out loud. Something that we have not heard about. Everyone in that room agreed that AI has become unavoidable, deservingly so, right? Well, not quite. Inside that room, these CxOs also agree that almost every banker admitted that most of what they are doing today barely scratches the surface. The truth is that banks might be embracing AI, but they are not dreaming…