The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Wednesday it approved the applications of two more digital banks, bringing to six the number of accredited digital lenders in the country.
The BSP issued the certificates of authority to operate to UnionDigital Bank Inc. and GoTyme Bank Corp. on July 12 and 29, respectively.
The BSP authorized Tonik Digital Bank Inc. and Maya Bank Inc. to operate as digital banks in the first quarter, and Overseas Filipino Bank Inc. of state-run Land Bank of the Philippines and UNObank Inc. in the second quarter.
The BSP issues the certificate of authority to operate to digital banks that substantially complied with the conditions for approval and pre-operating requirements. These include capitalization, risk and governance structure and information technology systems, among others.
It said the process for securing a certificate of authority to operate begins with the application to establish a digital bank to be approved by the Monetary Board.
Once approved by the MB, the BSP issues a certificate of authority to register which would be submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
After registration and completion of all other requirements, digital banks may then obtain the certificate of authority to operate from the BSP.
Overseas Filipino Bank Inc., Tonik Digital Bank and Maya are now fully operational, while UNObank, UnionDigital Bank and GoTyme Bank stated limited operations targeting select customers.
Operating initially under limited capacity is a conservative approach adopted by digital banks to further ensure that all aspects of their digital operations are ironed out prior to fully launching their services to the public.
UNObank, UnionDigital Bank and GoTyme Bank are expected to publicly launch their operations in the second half of this year.
Digital banks, unlike brick-and-mortar banks, have no physical branches. Their financial products and services are processed end-to-end through digital platforms or electronic channels.
Data showed that from January to June, the volume and value of electronic payments and financial services processed through digital banks reached 1.4 million transactions and P8.45 billion, respectively.
The operations of digital banks support the BSP’s Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap, which aims to digitalize half of the total volume of retail payments in the country and onboard at least 70 percent of Filipino adults into the formal financial system by 2023.