Pangilinan brushes off Maya IPO, admits GCash is PH's dominant fintech

The public listing of PLDT’s Maya through an initial public offering (IPO) will not happen in the near future, as the telco’s top boss admitted that the financial technology (fintech) company has a "long way to go" against its rival Globe’s GCash.

Speaking with reporters, PLDT chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan recalled a time when he was at a beach in Calatagan, Batangas and realized how popular GCash is.

“I mean, we're way behind in the digital wallet. What is the vocabulary, the vernacular for digital wallet? It's not Maya, right? It's GCash,” Pangilinan said.

“When I was in Calatagan, visiting a resort there… and there were vendors approaching us, selling ice cream. So I said, how can I pay? I said, ‘I don't have cash’… ‘Sir, can you give me GCash?’ I said, ‘I'm dead.’ So that's the vernacular. So we're way behind the digital wallet. Everybody knows that,” he added.

Thus, the PLDT chairman said Maya going public is a “misplaced optimism, to be honest.”

“They're not in a position to be IPO'd in the near future, period. I mean, they have to demonstrate that they can be profitable starting 2025 and to be consistently profitable for at least another year,” Pangilinan said.

“So to dream of an IPO in the next two years is simply an illusion… Plus the fact the market here is not conducive to an IPO,” he said.

Nonetheless, he said Maya is “scheduled to break even.”

During the telco’s stockholders meeting, Pangilinan reported that Maya had 3.4 million depositors and P29 billion in deposits in the first quarter of 2024, up 95% and 40% year-on-year, respectively. 

The PLDT chairman said Maya’s strength is its digital bank.

But for the fintech to go public, Pangilinan reiterated that the market will decide on whether it’s worth the investment.

“‘Show me the money,’ that's what the market will say. ‘Show me the money.’ ‘What's your performance?’” he said. —VAL, GMA Integrated News