The Consumer Lending Association of the Philippines (CLAP) aims to reach more unbanked Filipinos and provide them with access to credit next year.
Arianne Ferrer, president of CLAP, said the organization measures industry growth in terms of financial inclusion, specifically the number of customers they hope to reach.
“If there is regulatory stability, consistency, and in general, the amount of support that we’re currently getting from the Philippine government, we are hoping to reach as much as 300,000 new borrowers every month, given current situations,” Ferrer said.
“The goal is really to give the opportunity to people who do not have financial credit history, who may not have a lot of documentation, to have their first financial account, whether it’s a credit account, like with the consumer credit or eventually graduating them into a bank or a digital bank,” Ferrer said.
She said that while it is difficult to identify the number of borrowers under the group to date, their member companies now have about 33 million downloads on Google Play Store, 10 million on the Apple Store and 10 million on Huawei.
“We still estimate the market is so huge. There are so many people who still haven’t been given an opportunity,” she said.
Ferrer said the untapped market could have as many as 17 million consumers, and “we’re very far from that goal.”
CLAP alone lent a combined P20.5 billion to consumers last year, she said.
Ferrer said CLAP is also focused on collaborating with regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission on responsible credit and fighting fraud and scams next year.
“What we want to do in 2026 is to continue that path forward that we have identified by, for instance, implementing an incentive-based model for financing lending companies who have been audited by the SEC and/or the National Privacy Commission or the CIC [Credit Information Corp.] and found to be members in good standing,” she said.
“That is very important because often Filipinos are unable to take the amount of time, due diligence, research, because there’s so much information on the internet,” Ferrer said.
She said CLAP is also moving forward with its “Debt with Dignity” campaign.
“We want to remove the idea that debt is shameful, and this will encourage our consumers to report when they have been victims of either fraud, scam, threat, or harassment, so that they do not feel ashamed,” Ferrer said.
“And with less shame, we can assist them in finding the right remedy, whether as a trade association or as a partner with government,” she said.
CLAP is composed of Tala (WeFund Lending Corp.), Monee (Credit) Finance Philippines, Inc., Skyro (Skyro Lending Inc.), Tala (Tala Financing and Philippines, Inc.) , Tendopay (Template Finance Corp.) and Savii (New Cross Credit and Financing Gate PH, Inc.).
