The Philippines is making waves throughout Southeast Asia by leading the drive to provide digital banking to the unbanked and unhappily banked. A Maya executive shared this perspective at the Singapore Fintech Festival (SFF), Asia’s leading fintech event.
Maya was awarded as the Best Digital Bank
Maya, named Best Digital Bank in Southeast Asia by the World Digital Bank Awards and named one of the World’s Best Banks by Forbes Magazine, stands out as a regional trailblazer. The Philippines’ #1 Digital Bank has been honored for changing the financial journey by providing a full range of financial services through a single app for all customers and a unified platform for companies.
“We have proven that digital banking is the real game changer. Our approach – of providing financial services in one app with next-level experience – has reshaped consumers’ relationship with their finances,” said Shailesh Baidwan, Maya Group President and Maya Bank Co-Founder.
“This paradigm shift has sparked our growth, drawing 2.6 million Filipinos to Maya in just over a year. And we are constantly adding more pioneering and game-changing innovations,” he added.
Baidwan spoke at the exclusive Elevandi Insights roundtable on the Advancement of Financing and Investment for Digital Inclusion, which was co-hosted by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Economic Forum (WEF), and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in conjunction with the SFF, a premier event that serves as a melting pot for finance, policy, and technology pioneers.
Recent World Bank numbers underscore Southeast Asia’s amazing potential: while 65% of individuals (except in Brunei and Timor Leste) had a financial account, just 28% savings in banks, and 19% borrowed from them.
The region’s digital banks, supported by forward-thinking regulations, react to this demand for change with game-changing technologies and exceptional customer service. The Philippines, for example, had a 44% increase in digital bank deposit accounts from March 2023 to June 2023, compared to an 8% increase in the whole banking system.
Innovation at the Heart of Maya’s Success
Maya has begun a new age in Philippine banking, transitioning from PayMaya in April 2022, with cutting-edge services now fundamental to millions of lives.
Maya is revolutionizing digital banking with an engaging strategy that transforms routine purchases into rewarding experiences. Users just need to utilize Maya for payments to earn high-interest rates, which are paid to their deposit accounts daily.
Moreover, Maya is a pioneer in the use of alternative data, such as payment transactions, to construct robust AI-driven credit ratings, enabling immediate borrowing within the app.
Consumer preference has turned toward digital banking because of Maya’s all-encompassing platform. Maya’s multi-product offers result in a substantial boost in income per user as consumers trade much more often than those who solely use e-wallets—up to two or four times more frequently.
As of the end of September 2023, Maya had 2.6 million deposits, or PHP 23.5 billion, demonstrating the real effects of this change. Besides that, it has given loans totaling PHP 16 billion during the last 12 months.
It is now the top fintech ecosystem in the Philippines, home to the top digital bank, Maya, and the top omni-channel payment processor, Maya Business.
For more information, visit www.maya.ph
