Digital banks in the Philippines are a new formal category of banks which were only approved by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the country's central bank, in 2020. [1] The first such banks launched in the Philippines were Tonik, Overseas Filipino Bank, and UnionDigital of UnionBank Corp. Several more banks were approved by the BSP before 2021, when it announced that it would stop approving the establishment of further digital banks for three years, in order to strengthen the industry and assure healthy competition among its players. [2]
Digital banking and financial technology have been one of the most rapidly growing industries in Asia, seeing large success in countries such as South Korea, China, and Japan. [3] In Southeast Asia, Singapore is at the top of the digital banking industry, with the Philippines only recently following suit when the need for digital transactions rose during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. [1] A report by the BSP in 2019 claimed that 70% of Filipinos remained unbanked. A decline in check and ATM transactions, as well as a rise in digital transactions, was also reported in 2020 by the BSP. [2]
Recognizing the necessity to digitalize, the BSP issued Circular No. 1105 on "The Guidelines on the Establishment of Digital Banks" in 2020, allowing digital banks to apply for their formal licenses. The BSP aims to digitalize 50 percent of transactions and encourage at least 70 percent of Filipinos to open their own financial accounts by year 2023. [4]
The BSP has also announced that it has capped the number of licensed digital banks that will operate in the country to six (6), instead of seven originally planned. [5] It has stopped accepting applications for the digital banking license for three years in order to preserve the competition among the new banks. [6]
Rank | Bank name | Assets (millions of PHP) |
---|---|---|
1 | Maya Bank, Inc. | 28,080.81 [7] |
2 | UnionDigital Bank | 22,472.87 [8] |
3 | Gotyme Bank Corporation | 16,803.12 [9] |
4 | Tonik Digital Bank, Inc. | 9,742.99 [10] |
5 | Unobank, Inc. | 6,828.63 [11] |
6 | Overseas Filipino Bank Inc A Digital Bank of Landbank | 4,761.72 [12] |
The following banks are not licensed by the BSP to operate as digital banks but are offering digital banking and/or online banking services:
Digital banks in the Philippines are a new formal category of banks which were only approved by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the country's central bank, in 2020. [1] The first such banks launched in the Philippines were Tonik, Overseas Filipino Bank, and UnionDigital of UnionBank Corp. Several more banks were approved by the BSP before 2021, when it announced that it would stop approving the establishment of further digital banks for three years, in order to strengthen the industry and assure healthy competition among its players. [2]
Digital banking and financial technology have been one of the most rapidly growing industries in Asia, seeing large success in countries such as South Korea, China, and Japan. [3] In Southeast Asia, Singapore is at the top of the digital banking industry, with the Philippines only recently following suit when the need for digital transactions rose during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. [1] A report by the BSP in 2019 claimed that 70% of Filipinos remained unbanked. A decline in check and ATM transactions, as well as a rise in digital transactions, was also reported in 2020 by the BSP. [2]
Recognizing the necessity to digitalize, the BSP issued Circular No. 1105 on "The Guidelines on the Establishment of Digital Banks" in 2020, allowing digital banks to apply for their formal licenses. The BSP aims to digitalize 50 percent of transactions and encourage at least 70 percent of Filipinos to open their own financial accounts by year 2023. [4]
The BSP has also announced that it has capped the number of licensed digital banks that will operate in the country to six (6), instead of seven originally planned. [5] It has stopped accepting applications for the digital banking license for three years in order to preserve the competition among the new banks. [6]
Rank | Bank name | Assets (millions of PHP) |
---|---|---|
1 | Maya Bank, Inc. | 28,080.81 [7] |
2 | UnionDigital Bank | 22,472.87 [8] |
3 | Gotyme Bank Corporation | 16,803.12 [9] |
4 | Tonik Digital Bank, Inc. | 9,742.99 [10] |
5 | Unobank, Inc. | 6,828.63 [11] |
6 | Overseas Filipino Bank Inc A Digital Bank of Landbank | 4,761.72 [12] |
The following banks are not licensed by the BSP to operate as digital banks but are offering digital banking and/or online banking services: