BSP allows six digital banks to start full operations

The Philippines has already reached its limit to digital bank licenses as six banks have already been given the green light to pursue full operations, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) announced Wednesday.

In an advisory, the BSP said it authorized Tonik Digital Bank Inc. and Maya Bank Inc. to operate as digital banks in the first quarter, and the 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.

Meanwhile, Unobank, UnionDigital, and GoTyme have started limited operations, and are expected to publicly launch within the second half of the year.

Former BSP Governor and now Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said the central bank would limit the country’s digital bank licenses to six.

The BSP approved the recognition of digital banks as a 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 a digital platform and/or electronic channels with no physical branches.

To qualify, banks must meet the minimum capitalization of P1 billion, and will have to follow all the fiduciary rules imposed on other bank categories.

“The operations of digital banks support the BSP’s Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap, which aims to digitalize half of the total volume of retail payments in the country, and onboard at least 70% of all Filipino adults into the formal financial system by 2023,” the BSP said.

Latest data available from the central bank showed that 56% of adult Filipinos held a financial account in 2021, equivalent to 22 million Filipinos with bank accounts and 34.3 million unbanked.

This compares with the 29% financial account takeup in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, marking the highest two-year growth since data collection started in 2015.

“Amid the latest figures, the BSP will continue to broaden its efforts to foster the wider adoption of digital technology, which has effectively enabled the onboarding of more Filipinos into the formal financial system,” BSP Governor Felipe Medalla said. —LBG, GMA News