{"id":74852,"date":"2026-08-10T12:22:44","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T04:22:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/?p=74852"},"modified":"2026-08-10T12:22:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T04:22:44","slug":"maya-calls-for-shift-from-financial-access-to-financial-resilience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/2026\/08\/10\/maya-calls-for-shift-from-financial-access-to-financial-resilience\/","title":{"rendered":"Maya calls for shift from financial access to financial resilience"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Philippines\u2019 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.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u2019s financial security and creating more opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccess was the first phase of financial inclusion. The next phase is financial health,\u201d Rada said.\u00a0\u201cThe question is no longer simply whether Filipinos have a financial account, but whether that account is making their lives better and more secure.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u00a0mainly for\u00a0transactions and remain underserved by formal savings and credit products.<\/p>\n

Rada said national payment rails, digital identity, improving credit information and the\u00a0Bangko\u00a0Sentral ng Pilipinas\u2019 digital banking framework have laid important foundations. These systems, however, still need to be strengthened and sustained.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Through the Maya app and Maya Business, payment activity can become a starting point for a wider financial relationship that includes savings and credit.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery payment is a data point,\u201d Rada said. \u201cUsed responsibly, those signals can help make more people and businesses visible to the formal financial system and improve their access to financial services.\u201d<\/p>\n

AI helps Maya use data more effectively across digital onboarding, personalization, credit assessment, fraud detection and customer protection.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

At Maya, this is reflected in its\u00a0high-yield savings and time\u00a0deposit\u00a0products. Customers can unlock time-bound savings-rate boosts and other rewards by completing defined activities.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile,\u00a0Maya XP\u00a0builds on\u00a0this through a personalized engagement score.\u00a0Customers can complete missions and challenges, receive nudges on what they can do next, and progress through levels that offer relevant rewards and benefits.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor financial institutions, financial literacy cannot sit outside the product,\u201d Rada said. \u201cIt has to be built into the experience through clear feedback, relevant incentives and timely nudges that help healthier financial habits become second nature.\u201d<\/p>\n

For ASEAN, Rada called for common ways to measure financial health, alongside more interoperable\u00a0payment\u00a0and data systems.<\/p>\n

Rada joined the panel discussion,\u00a0\u201cBeyond Financial Inclusion: Advancing Financial Health at Scale,\u201d\u00a0at the ASEAN Tech Summit Manila 2026, co-organized by FinTech\u00a0Alliance.PH\u00a0and 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Digital payments can help by giving financial institutions a better understanding of consumers and businesses with little or no traditional credit history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":74853,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[413,3704,7376,7408,8168],"class_list":["post-74852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","tag-banking","tag-financing","tag-maya","tag-maya-business","tag-toff-rada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74852"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74854,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74852\/revisions\/74854"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}