PayMaya affiliate digital bank on track for Q1 launch

PayMaya’s affiliate digital bank, Maya Bank, is on track for its launch within the first quarter of the year as the group readies to capture a larger share of the country’s vast “unbanked” segment and small to medium-sized businesses.

Backed by PLDT Inc. and other foreign investors, PayMaya will also work with PLDT and subsidiary Smart’s telco customers to promote a “seamless digital banking experience.”

“The digital bank’s primary focus will be the largely unbanked and underserved consumers and MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises),” a statement from PLDT showed.

“Maya Bank will leverage on PayMaya’s successful track record and ready base of consumers and MSMEs, as well as its widest digital payments touchpoints and strong enterprise partnerships,” it added.

PayMaya is an integrated financial services provider through its consumer digital wallet and major nonbank enterprise payments processing business.

Shailesh Baidwan, president at PayMaya, said Maya Bank marks the group’s next phase of expansion.

“We’re going beyond payments with exciting new financial services, in tandem with Maya Bank, as we further spur adoption and foster financial inclusion,” he said in the statement.

No physical branches

Once operational, Maya Bank will provide traditional banking services, including savings and loans, without having a physical branch network since its business would be conducted online.

Digital banks are a new and distinct category. They will also be subjected to strict regulations by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, similar to other banks.

Last October, the group announced that veteran banker Angelo Madrid was tapped to lead the startup digital bank.

Madrid previously worked at Citibank New York, where he cofounded a financial technology startup, and was country manager of Tala, a US-based lending startup focused on the Philippines and other emerging markets.

PayMaya and Maya Bank are businesses under Voyager Innovations, whose investors include PLDT China’s Tencent, global investment firm KKR and the International Finance Corp., through IFC Financial Institutions Growth Fund.