As fraud advances and demand for personalized banking grows, Philippine banks are turning to Artificial Intelligence or AI. While others adapt, Maya is building its own to boost security, customize services, and scale digital finance.
At the recent AWS AI Day, Maya Group Chief Technology Officer Alfred Lo unveiled homegrown AI breakthroughs, including a fraud detection technology that can reduce losses by up to 98%, a chatbot that handles most customer inquiries, and a recommendation system that boosts user engagement.
“AI is reshaping banking to ensure every Filipino benefits from the digital economy,” Lo said. “At Maya, we’re competing with AI itself—to stay ahead of fraudsters, shifting customer behaviors, and a digital economy that never stops moving.”
Smarter Fraud Detection for Stronger Security
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has flagged a rise in scams, phishing attacks, and account takeovers, particularly among new bank customers. However, most fraud detection systems still rely on rule-based methods, AI with simple feature engineering, or graph-based techniques.
Maya’s fraud detection approach, Transaction Sequence Embeddings, analyzes and uncovers subtle patterns between transactions —flagging those that resemble fraudulent behavior or deviate from a user’s normal patterns. The company is finalizing a technical paper showcasing this proprietary innovation for publication in a premier journal.
“Our model can reduce fraud losses by up to 98%, significantly enhancing the effectiveness of anti-fraud systems,” Lo said.
The same AI approach can also assess credit risk, predicting repayment likelihood based on spending habits. However, security is just one way Maya is driving innovation.
AI Is Making Banking More Personal
Most banks still segment customers by broad categories like age or income, missing real behavioral insights.
Maya has built an AI-powered Action Card feature on the Maya app to guide users at the right time, suggesting products that are highly relevant. Maya’s personalized approach has helped increase average revenue per user by 45%, enabling more users take action on savings, loans, and credit.
Lo noted that the next frontier is an AI-powered rewards system that learns from past offers to predict which incentives—like free insurance or higher interest—will deliver the most value to millions of users while remaining cost-effective. This ensures that every peso spent on rewards maximizes impact.
“Now, we enter the era of multi-objective optimization. AI orchestrates and balances cost, conversion, and customer delight. At Maya, we’re at the forefront of this evolution. We turn data into decisions, and decisions into delight.” Lo added.
Yet, even the best banking services mean little if customers struggle to get support. AI is addressing that, too.
AI Chatbots Are Becoming Banking Assistants
Most banking chatbots handle only basic inquiries, with limited responses. Maya’s AI chatbot, however, now resolves up to 95% of customer issues instantly, reducing the need for human support tenfold while improving customer satisfaction.
Lo sees the future of AI beyond customer service—turning chatbots into full-fledged financial assistants. With Maya’s advanced CRM powered by transaction history and behavioral insights, AI will soon provide every customer with a level of service previously reserved for high-net-worth individuals.
“Today, only top customers get dedicated bankers. In the future, everyone will,” he said. “We’re not just building chatbots—we’re building relationships.”
