Data, AI, and product design can turn account ownership into stronger savings, credit access, and business growth
The Philippines’ next financial inclusion challenge is no longer simply opening more accounts. It is helping Filipinos use those accounts to save more, access responsible credit and become better prepared for financial shocks.
Speaking at the ASEAN Tech Summit Manila, Maya Head of Corporate Affairs Toff Rada said financial inclusion must increasingly be judged by whether access is improving people’s financial security and creating more opportunities.
“Access was the first phase of financial inclusion. The next phase is financial health,” Rada said. “The question is no longer simply whether Filipinos have a financial account, but whether that account is making their lives better and more secure.”
Formal account ownership in the Philippines has more than doubled over the past decade, rising from 22% in 2015 to around 50% in 2025. Yet many Filipinos still use their accounts mainly for transactions and remain underserved by formal savings and credit products.
Rada said national payment rails, digital identity, improving credit information and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ digital banking framework have laid important foundations. These systems, however, still need to be strengthened and sustained.
Progress should not be measured only by accounts opened or transactions processed, he said. The more important test is whether the infrastructure helps people build savings, access affordable credit, grow a business or cope with an emergency.
Digital payments can help by giving financial institutions a better understanding of consumers and businesses with little or no traditional credit history. Used responsibly and with the proper safeguards, everyday financial activity can provide useful signals about how people and businesses manage money. This can support more informed savings, credit and business-financing products.
Through the Maya app and Maya Business, payment activity can become a starting point for a wider financial relationship that includes savings and credit.
“Every payment is a data point,” Rada said. “Used responsibly, those signals can help make more people and businesses visible to the formal financial system and improve their access to financial services.”
AI helps Maya use data more effectively across digital onboarding, personalization, credit assessment, fraud detection and customer protection.
Rada also said financial education should not depend only on seminars or standalone campaigns. Products themselves should help customers make better decisions as they save, spend and borrow.
At Maya, this is reflected in its high-yield savings and time deposit products. Customers can unlock time-bound savings-rate boosts and other rewards by completing defined activities.
Meanwhile, Maya XP builds on this through a personalized engagement score. Customers can complete missions and challenges, receive nudges on what they can do next, and progress through levels that offer relevant rewards and benefits.
“For financial institutions, financial literacy cannot sit outside the product,” Rada said. “It has to be built into the experience through clear feedback, relevant incentives and timely nudges that help healthier financial habits become second nature.”
For ASEAN, Rada called for common ways to measure financial health, alongside more interoperable payment and data systems.
Rada joined the panel discussion, “Beyond Financial Inclusion: Advancing Financial Health at Scale,” at the ASEAN Tech Summit Manila 2026, co-organized by FinTech Alliance.PH and the ASEAN Business Advisory Council Philippines. Other panelists include BSP Deputy Director Kristine Orlina, VNPay JSC Vietnam Vice President Niraan de Silva, Grab Financial Group Country Head CJ Lacsican, Wise Philippines Country Manager Areson Cuevas, Bayad President and CEO Lawrence Ferrer, and Alliance of Digital Finance and Fintech Association CEO Sarah Corley.
