BSP to short list new digital bank candidates
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) may soon draw up a short list of contenders for four new digital banking licenses, a move that could sharpen competition in the country’s fast-evolving financial sector.
Speaking to reporters, BSP Deputy Governor Lyn Javier, head of the department regulating banks, said the central bank has begun reviewing applications and could select the candidates to be recommended to the Monetary Board within the first quarter of the year.
“We have to look at them and see the most promising business models that can actually provide value and greater services to the Philippines,” Javier said.
The BSP received three applications before the deadline late last year. Javier declined to say whether any of the applicants were foreign firms.
The central bank reopened the application window in 2025 after lifting a three-year moratorium. It seeks to expand an industry that currently includes just six players: UNO Digital Bank, UnionDigital Bank, GoTyme, Tonik Digital Bank, Maya Bank and the Overseas Filipino Bank, a subsidiary of the state-run Land Bank of the Philippines.
Four new slots are up for grabs. The BSP said only the applicants that show capacity to offer a unique value proposition—or develop new and innovative business models not offered by existing players—would be granted a digital banking license.
P1-B minimum capital
This is on top of the minimum capitalization of P1 billion and other prudential requirements that digital lenders must meet.
Fitch Ratings earlier said competition for funding in the local banking scene is expected to heat up with the entry of new digital banks, which are expected to “aggressively” raise deposits to jumpstart their operations.
Still, Fitch said the reopening of the local digital banking sector to new players would have a “modest” impact on the country’s banking industry in the near term, as the fresh entrants—like the existing virtual lenders—will remain relatively small in size in the foreseeable future.
As of September 2025, digital banks held total deposits of P119.5 billion and served a combined 20.4 million customers, according to BSP data.
