Zed secures BSP license, begins rolling out invitations to 40k waitlist

Zed, a credit-led neobank, announced today it has received its Certificate of Authority to Operate as a standalone credit card issuer from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). 

"Our BSP license makes us the first Philippine neobank to offer credit cards as a standalone issuer," said Danielle Cojuangco Abraham, "This independence and our foundation as a technology company means we can rapidly and continuously improve our product, unconstrained by legacy systems.”

UnionBank gets BSP nod, becomes first and only PH universal bank to offer mobile crypto trading

Proving its status anew as an industry trailblazer, Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) recently achieved another first in the industry after securing a Certificate of Authority from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to operate as a virtual asset service provider (VASP), making it the first and only universal bank in the Philippines to offer virtual asset exchange services. 

With the full VASP license from the BSP, the Bank can now extend virtual asset exchange services to a broader base of UnionBank customers through the award-winning UnionBank Online app. These virtual asset exchange services previously were accessible only to randomly selected users of the app through a limited virtual asset license. 

PH ripe for open finance

BSP, UBX, ECCP-SCOFFI commit to collaborate to leverage open finance to drive inclusion 

UBX, the leading open finance platform in the Philippines, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and members of the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines’ (ECCP) Special Committee on Open Finance and Financial Inclusion (SCOFFI) committed to collaborate closely to leverage open finance in driving financial inclusion further in the country. 

In a recent Kapihan Session organized by the ECCP-SCOFFI, UBX Managing Director for Open Finance Jamie Garchitorena, BSP Deputy Deputy Governor Chuchi Fonacier highlighted the readiness of the Philippines in embracing open finance. 

UBX joins, vows to fully support BSP’s open finance pilot

UBX, the leading open finance platform in the Philippines, has joined the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) pilot run of the open finance ecosystem within its sandbox and proof-of-concept framework, pursuant to the administration’s goal of digitally transforming the economy.

Collaborating with industry players from relevant sectors in finance such as electronic money issuers, banks, payment operators, and other financial service providers, the pilot program explores the use of Application Programming Interface (API) technologies to manage the issues of information asymmetry and data aggregations in the delivery of   financial products and services tailored for their customers.

GCash is the preferred mobile wallet by Filipinos for cashless transfers

E-wallet segment seen to continue expanding

GCash is the top mobile wallet used by Filipinos for cashless transactions, comprising 4.9 million out of the overall 6.4 million mobile wallet remitters in the country, according to a 2019 study conducted by The Nielsen Company.

Cashless transfers are defined as the use of any device or tool to send and receive money online, including bank transfers. Filipinos utilizing cashless transactions now comprise 19 percent or 9.3 million out of an estimated total 49 million who do money transfers.