Author: Fintech News Philippines

Filipino fintech players can expect a boost from their regional counterparts as local trade association Fintech Alliance.ph inks a deal with the ASEAN Financial Innovation Network (AFIN). The two parties yesterday agreed in a signed memorandum of understanding to promote the use of API Exchange (APIX), an online fintech marketplace and sandbox platform developed by AFIN, among other cooperation. APIX is the world’s first cross-border, open-architecture platform of its kind. It enables interactions among financial institutions and fintech firms, collaboration on experiments in isolated testing environments, and adoption of application programming interfaces (API) for quick deployment of digital solutions. Fintech…

FICO, a global analytics software firm, has released its Consumer Digital Banking Survey, which found a notable percentage of Filipinos are not taking the necessary precautions to protect their passwords and logins when banking online. The study found that only 53% are using separate passwords to access multiple accounts; 18% have between two to five passwords they reuse across accounts; and a staggering 14% use a single password across all accounts. Additionally, 15% of respondents use an encrypted password manager, which many consider best practice, while 29% adopted risky approaches to recall passwords, such as writing them down in a notebook. “As…

Robocash Group opened a US$5 million pre-IPO funding round to finance the launch of its digital bank in Philippines called Una Bank by September 2020. This move is in preparation for an initial public offering (IPO) on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) in December 2020. This move to launch a digital bank in the Philippines is despite the fact that the Philippines Securities Commission revoked Robocash’s license for operating several branches of its lending business without the requisite Certificate of Authority (CA). They admitted to doing so and claimed that they did not maliciously violate the regulations by opening up…

Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) has launched what they described as the country’s first all-in-one “Taglish” inclusion super app, DiskarTech. Taglish refers to the Philippine language Tagalog infused with American English terms that has been widely used by Filipinos locally and abroad. The app aims to provide sachet banking services to millions of unbanked and underserved Filipinos, especially those living in grassroots communities. “Our aim has always been to scale consumer adoption by making DiskarTech simple. It talks to every ordinary consumer using our everyday language that is easy to understand and where everyone is most comfortable with. And that…

The national government, spearheaded by the Department of Finance (DOF) and the Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK), announced this week the launched the Overseas Filipino Bank (OFBank) as a digital-only bank that allows clients to complete bank transactions anytime and anywhere across the globe. The newly launched bank is a fully-owned subsidiary of LandBank. In a media statement, they said that the digital bank utilises “Digital Onboarding System with Artificial Intelligence” to facilitate digital account opening via the OFBank’s mobile banking app. They said this will in turn allow overseas Filipinos to securely and conveniently submit all requirements online…

Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) announced that it has extended its free Instapay transfers or instant transfers between accounts of participating central bank-supervised banks and non-bank e-money issuers in the Philippines until the end of the year. The bank said it is leveraging its “phygital” (physical-digital) banking leadership – providing the best combination of both physical and digital channels – to achieve this goal. Since the start of the quarantine period, UnionBank boosted its mobile and web banking platforms for retail and corporate customers namely UnionBank Online and The Portal, respectively, to enable clients to safely do their banking…

The Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) was recognized yesterday as the “Best Digital Bank in the Philippines” by a Hong Kong-based institutional investment magazine. This year’s edition of the Annual Alpha Southeast Asia Best FI Awards deliberated on the performance of participating banks, brokers and other financial institutions in the past year and made special note of their position “given the dramatic changes in the operating environment” due to the COVID-19 pandemic. RCBC was judged through “a fair, robust and informative methodology” with additional criteria “to tighten its eligibility,” said Alpha Southeast Asia in its announcement of winners. The Yuchengco-led…

Tonik Financial Pte Ltd (“tonik”) announced today that it closed a $21M round of Series A equity funding. The round was led by blue-chip VC investors Sequoia India and Point72 Ventures, with a significant participation from previous VC investors Insignia and Credence. tonik will use the funding to launch its digital bank in the Philippines, targeting the start of commercial operations in Q3 2020. tonik was recently granted its own bank license by the banking regulator in the Philippines. In the company’s estimates, Philippines represents a US$140 billion retail savings market, and a US$100 billion unsecured consumer lending opportunity. tonik…

Fintech Alliance.ph, a coalition of fintech and digital companies, has tagged a proposed bill in the House of Representatives to tax electronic transactions as an “abortifacient” to the digital transformation of the country. “We fully understand that taxation is the lifeblood that sustains and nourishes every government,” writes Lito Villanueva, chairman of Fintech Alliance.ph. “But we are likewise aware of its power to destroy emerging digital enterprises that are still at an embryonic stage in the Philippines.” House Bill 6765 or the Digital Economy Taxation Act of of 2020, authored by House of Representatives ways and means committee chairman Rep.…

Grab announced today the launch of the GrabPay Card in the Philippines, a fully digital prepaid card powered by Mastercard that extends GrabPay’s reach globally with unparalleled card security, hassle-free online payments and expanded rewards ecosystem to bring the convenience of cashless payments to more Filipinos. Regulated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), GrabPay is a mobile wallet that can be used to transact within and outside the Grab app safely and securely. With a 24/7 fraud detection engine, users are assured that their personal information and payment transactions remain encrypted and protected. To use the GrabPay Card, simply…

Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) said that it is closer to its target of covering all provinces of the country with handheld automated teller machines (ATM) as the bank beefs up the payout partner network through its ATM Go service. The continuous expansion comes at the heels of an endorsement from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for the use of this digital facility as a payout channel for the national government’s social amelioration programs. This includes another disbursement platform called DiskarTech Lite which has been approved by the BSP to help DSWD in quickly disbursing the government…

At least half of retail payment transactions will be shifted to digital in three years. This according to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno in a digital forum hosted today by the Fintech Alliance.ph. Along with this commitment, Diokno also sees 70 percent of adult Filipinos having and using a transaction account by the end of his term. A three-year digital payments transformation roadmap has been drafted by the BSP in pursuit of this objective. One of the priority policy initiatives lined up is open banking. Likewise, the BSP chief encouraged the participation of fintech players which “are uniquely…

Last year, Manila was named one of the world’s friendliest cities in the world for fintech startups, and was recognized for its strong English-language skills and well-established outsourcing industries. Fintech companies already compose 15% of Manila’s startups, according to Startup Genome’s Global Startup Ecosystem Report, and the market is expected to grow from about US$5.7 billion in 2018 to US$10.5 billion by 2022. The Philippines’ fintech industry is expected to continue growing in 2020 on the back of memorable developments and deals in 2019. The following are seven fintech startups in the Philippines which made significant strides last year and…

Yuchengco-led Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) is reporting record-highs in digital growth amid the pandemic and Philippines’ enhanced community quarantine (ECQ). The bank is seeing triple-digit growth of up to 821% in key metrics of RCBC’s online and mobile facilities during the ECQ, Lito Villanueva,  Chief Digital Innovation and Inclusion Officer said that this is evidence of a substantial shift to digital in the Philippines’ society. “The positive numbers have also been buoyed by the enforcement of ECQ in many localities in the Philippines which drove new and existing clients from the physical branches to our digital platforms,” said…

IDC Financial Insights today released the 2020 update of its FinTech Fast 101 research which details a list of fast-growing FinTechs in Asia/Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) from 11 key markets. IDC’s FinTech Fast 101 research refers to fast-growing fintech players based on extensive on-ground analysis of fintech players from China, India, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, South Korea, and Australia. 5 Fast Growing FinTechs in the Philippines ACUDEEN Acudeen is a P2P invoice marketplace that allows SMEs to sell their receivables to its network of funders, enabling them to receive funds ahead of time. Acudeen’s online platform…

PLDT, a major telco player from the Philippines, KKR, a Global investment firm, Tencent, the China-based internet giant, and IFC, a member of the World Bank Group announced the signing of agreements which will see the parties commit up to US$120 million in new funding towards expansion efforts of Voyager Innovations, a digital financial services company. This follows KKR’s, Tencent’s, IFC’s and IFC Emerging Asia Fund’s initial investments totaling US$215 million made to Voyager in 2018, and underscores the investors’ support of Voyager and its strategy to provide greater access to digital financial services across the Philippines through its financial…

Private companies join hands in support of the government’s social amelioration program to Filipinos severely affected by the COVID-19 enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) through the promotion of alternative encashment facilities nationwide. In an agreement signed today, an operational plan was formed among groups of rural banks, cooperatives, and microfinance institutions non-government organizations, and a payment collection company to provide alternative option to quickly disburse government’s over P200 billion emergency subsidy to over 18 million families through the use of RCBC’s pocket and mobile automated teller machine (ATM) known as ATM Go. This collaboration was called Damayang Sambayanihan: Hatid-Ayuda sa Kababayan.…

From the first three days of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), new enrolments in RCBC Online Banking continued to rise. The bank registered last Thursday, March 26, a new high of new enrolments in one day. The daily average of new signups post-ECQ, from March 17 to March 26, grew by 117 percent from the daily average pre-ECQ in the same month. Significant dips in signups are noted during the weekends. For transactions, the most growth was observed in the Cardless ATM Withdrawal function. A 633-percent increase in count and a 416-percent increase in throughput was recorded between pre- and…

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) logged a 259% increase on new sign-ups on its online banking service in the first three days of the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ). Bank data show a daily average of 1,116 new enrollments from March 17 to March 19. This is more than double the average daily enrollment of 431 recorded in the same month before the enforcement of the ECQ. The biggest number of new sign-ups at 1,155 was observed in March 17, the first day of the Luzon-wide quarantine. “The online and mobile banking facilities of RCBC are ready and…

Amidst the current contagion of potential pandemic proportions, the Philippines has reported a series of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the last four days. Given the high risk of local transmission, the Fintech Alliance.ph has heightened its awareness campaign on the use of digital channels especially on reducing the handling of physical cash, which according to various advisories, may contribute to the spread of the virus. “We enjoin the public to utilize any digital means of making financial transactions such payments or transfers using QR code, or through InstaPay or PESONet across banks and non-bank providers, contactless, and other payment technologies.…