Green light to six digital banks
By Nidz Godino
“The operations of digital banks support BSP’s Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap, which aims to digitalize half of total volume of retail payments in the country, and onboard at least 70% of all Filipino adults into formal financial system by 2023,” Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Philippines has already reached its limit to digital bank licenses as six banks have already been given green light to pursue full operation.
In an advisory, the BSP authorized Tonik Digital Bank Inc. and Maya Bank Inc. to operate as digital banks in the first quarter, and Overseas Filipino Bank Inc., UNObank Inc., UnionDigital Bank Inc., and GoTyme Bank Corp. in the second quarter.
Overseas Filipino Bank, Tonik, and Maya have already started full operations, with financial products and services processed end-to-end through digital platforms or electronic channels.
Unobank, UnionDigital, and GoTyme have started limited operations, and are expected to publicly launch within second half of the year.
Former BSP Governor and now Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said central bank would limit country’s digital bank licenses to six.
The BSP approved recognition of digital banks as new bank category in November 2020, separate and distinct from other bank classifications.
Digital banks are defined as banks that offer financial products and services that are processed end-to-end through digital platform and,or electronic channels with no physical branches.
To qualify, banks must meet minimum capitalization of P1 billion, and will have to follow all fiduciary rules imposed on other bank categories.
Latest data available from central bank showed 56% of adult Filipinos held financial account in 2021, equivalent to 22 million Filipinos with bank accounts and 34.3 million unbanked.
This compares with 29% financial account takeup in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, marking highest two-year growth since data collection started in 2015.
“Amid latest figures, BSP will continue to broaden its efforts to foster wider adoption of digital technology, which has effectively enabled onboarding of more Filipinos into formal financial system,” BSP Governor Felipe Medalla said.
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