Philippines

Billease Rebrands Rural Bank of Sta. Maria as Billease Bank

Billease has officially renamed its banking arm, the Rural Bank of Sta. Maria (Ilocos Sur), to Billease Bank. The company has also appointed Eduardo Bobier, a former Deputy Governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), as an independent director, subject to BSP confirmation…

20 days ago

finance

Fintech News PH

Security Bank Plans Apple Pay, Google Pay Launch in 2027

Security Bank plans to introduce Apple Pay and Google Pay for its customers in the second half of 2027 as the Philippine lender upgrades its core credit card infrastructure, according to a report by The Philippine Star. “We’re changing our system, our core credit card system,” s…

20 days ago

Mitsubishi to Invest 120 Billion Yen to Raise Ayala Stake to 20%

Mitsubishi Corporation is investing approximately 120 billion yen to increase its stake in Philippine conglomerate Ayala Corporation. The transaction will deepen their strategic alliance across consumer-facing businesses, building on their previous collaboration and joint invest…

20 days ago

48% of Filipinos Can’t Easily Raise Emergency Funds, BSP Says

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Global Finance & Technology Network (GFTN), supported by the UN Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Financial Health (UNSGSA), have launched the ASEAN Financial Health Challenge, as only three in ten Filipino adults say their sa…

24 days ago

Affluent Card Spending in the Philippines Jumped 49% in Six Months

Visa has expanded its Visa Infinite card lineup in the Philippines, adding two new tiers aimed at the country’s growing affluent segment, BusinessWorld told. Spending on affluent cards in the Philippines rose 49% over a six-month period as of April 2026, Visa said, citing intern…

24 days ago

Online Casinos Disguised as Salons Prompt BSP Payment Crackdown

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has found online casinos posing as beauty salons, bakeries and other ordinary businesses to process bets through payment platforms, according to Bloomberg. BSP has since closed more than 8,000 merchant accounts over alleged illegal activitie…

24 days ago

Metrobank’s Anthony Yap Set to Lead Institutional Banking in 2027

Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company (Metrobank) has appointed Anthony Paul C. Yap as Head of the Institutional Banking Sector, effective January 1, 2027, according to Asian Banking & Finance. He has served as Deputy Sector Head of the Institutional Banking Sector since July 1, sup…

25 days ago

Billease Deals Now Shows What You Can Afford, Before Checkout

Billease has launched Billease Deals on the web at deals.billease.ph, extending its in-app shopping feature to any mobile browser. Deals previously ran only inside the Billease app. It launched in 2025 focused on mobile phones, before expanding into a wider range of electronics…

25 days ago

Standard Chartered Is Eyeing Financing Opportunities in Clark

The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Standard Chartered Bank Philippines to jointly study investment and urban development opportunities in the Clark Freeport Zone and New Clark City, according to BusinessWorld. The…

25 days ago

Cashify Partners with FinScore to Strengthen Digital Lending Through Telco-Based Credit Scoring

SunLoan Lending Investors Corp., the company behind digital lending platform Cashify, has partnered with FinScore to strengthen Cashify’s credit assessment capabilities through alternative credit scoring data. SunLoan is registered with the Philippine Securities and Exchange Com…

26 days ago

BSP Reports US$3.24 Billion in Cash Remittances for July 2026

Philippines saw that cash remittances reached US$3.24 billion in July 2026, up 1.9% from US$3.18 billion in July 2025, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). The United States remained the top source of inflows, followed by Singapore and Saudi Arabia, based on repor…

Skyro Rebrands, Shifting From Consumer Lender to Financial Ecosystem

Skyro has begun rolling out a refreshed visual identity, launching first with a redesigned app in the Philippines on September 15. A wider rollout across all markets, advertising and partner touchpoints will follow in the coming weeks. The rebrand marks Skyro’s shift from a cons…

Filipinos Can Now Send Money Abroad Through M Lhuillier and Ria

Ria Money Transfer is expanding its Outbound Service in the Philippines, working with M Lhuillier Financial Services to offer the service across its more than 3,000 branches nationwide, according to Ria Philippines’ President and CEO, Steve Peregrino’s LinkedIn post. The service…

Be the Bank That Scales in 2027 with AI

For fifty years, core banking systems were designed around one user: a person at a screen. Screens, workflows, overnight batch, all of it built on the same assumption; that a person clicks the buttons. That assumption has expired. AI agents read, decide and act without clicking…

GCash Is Racing Three Other Ant-Backed Wallets to Go Public First, and It’s About to Win

GCash is going public in Manila, but investors in Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Bangkok will read that number just as closely. The reason comes down to one investor. Ant Group holds a stake in GCash, and a comparable stake in three of the region’s other biggest e-wallets, Malaysia’s…

Maya’s New Bukad Card Marks Its Full Shift to Recycled Plastic

Maya has launched the Bukad Card, a special-edition Visa-powered card featuring illustrations by Filipino artist Raxenne Maniquiz, according to Maya’s own deals page. The card takes its name from “bukadkad,” the Filipino word for a flower in full bloom, and its release marks May…

28 days ago

MUFG Manila Upgrades to Universal Bank After 31 Years

MUFG Bank Ltd.’s Manila branch has secured a universal banking licence from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), according to Manila Bulletin. The upgrade lets the branch offer broader financial solutions to corporations and institutions, moving up from the commercial banking…

28 days ago

Superama Shoppers in Cotabato City Can Now Pay Cashlessly With GCash

GCash has partnered with Superama, a homegrown supermarket chain with multiple branches in Cotabato City, to make everyday essentials more accessible for local families through cashless payments. Superama customers can now pay for groceries and daily needs using GCash instead of…

28 days ago

All of Maya’s Visa Cards Can Now Tap to Pay With Google Pay

Maya‘s Visa wallet cards are now available on Google Wallet and Google Pay, according to Manila Standard. The rollout covers both physical and virtual Maya Visa cards, meaning all of Maya’s Visa cards, credit and wallet, are now supported. This expands on Maya’s earlier Google W…

Visa Doubles Its Philippine Footprint With 9,000 Square Metre Office

Visa is more than doubling its office footprint at the SM Mall of Asia Complex, according to InsiderPH. The payments company is relocating from about 4,000 square meters at Five E-com Center to a 9,000-square-meter facility at Four E-com Center, remaining within the same busines…

BPI, BDO and Metrobank Among Eight Philippine Banks on Forbes’ Global List

Eight Philippine banks were included in Forbes’ inaugural World’s Top Performing Banks ranking for 2026. Created with market research firm Statista, the ranking takes a financial-performance approach rather than relying primarily on customer surveys. Forbes drew on financial dat…

Why Account Takeover Is Getting Harder to Stop

Financial institutions have invested heavily in securing digital onboarding and account opening journeys. Identity verification, document checks, and fraud screening have become standard practice across banking, fintech, and digital financial services. Yet despite these investme…

ShopeeVIP+ Brings Netflix, Canva Pro and More to the Philippines

Shopee has launched ShopeeVIP+ as per Shopee Indonesia’s Executive Director, Handhika Jahja’s post on his LinkedIn. The deal is a subscription programme bundling Netflix access with shopping perks, marking Netflix’s first e-commerce partnership in Southeast Asia. The programme r…

Billease Doubles RCBC Credit Line to PHP 1 Billion in a Year

Billease has doubled its credit facility with Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) to PHP 1 billion, a year after the two institutions began their lending relationship with an initial PHP 500 million facility. The expanded, one-year partnership now extends beyond term len…

Why Payment Downtime Is a Revenue Problem

What does a financial institution lose when its payment platform is unavailable for ten minutes? According to 2025 research by Datos Insights, the first customer complaints emerge within 10 to 15 minutes. After an hour, frustrated customers share their experiences online. By thr…

GCash Turns Your Spare Coins Into Wallet Balance With GSukli

GCash has launched GSukli, a feature that lets customers receive their loose change directly into their GCash wallet instead of carrying it home, according to GCash’s own newsroom. The feature is free to use and is now live at all Bench branches nationwide, with more Suyen Corpo…

UnionDigital Bank Becomes First to Offer SSS LoanLite Digitally

UnionDigital Bank has begun accepting applications for SSS LoanLite through its mobile app, according to SSS’s own announcement. The digital microloan programme, which SSS first unveiled in September 2025 alongside UnionBank, is now live for qualified members a year after it was…

EastWest Personal Loans Now Available to Compare on Moneymax

Moneymax, the Philippines platform of MoneyHero Limited, has partnered with East West Banking Corporation (EastWest) to expand access to personal loan products for Filipino consumers. The partnership comes amid sustained growth in Philippine consumer lending. Consumer loans, whi…

Asialink Housing Finance Adds 4 Developers to Help More Filipinos Own Homes

Asialink Finance Corporation is expanding its housing finance network through partnerships with four real estate developers: Philippine Estates Corporation, Ferti-Acres Inc., Masaito Development Corporation and Vester Corporation. The partnerships give qualified property buyers…

BSP Plans 12-Month Pause on New Payment Operator Registrations

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) wants to suspend the registration of new payment system operators for a year, as part of tighter safeguards meant to make merchant payments traceable and curb fraud and illicit transactions, according to Philstar. Payment system operators ar…