“The Philippines and (the fintech) industry is in exceptionally better place compared to where the rest of the world is moving. We need to work hard to make sure (that we will) be able to use this momentum, and I think we are looking to incoming challenges so we can serve the Filipinos better.”

This is the statement of Zdenek Jankovsky, Executive Director and Corporate Treasurer of Home Credit Philippines, during the BW Insights Episode entitled “Fintech Ph: Fintech Space as the Thriving Ground for Upgrading Financial Services,” that aired live in a Facebook Page.

Jankovsky is talking about the current momentum that the Financial Technology (fintech) industry of the country is experiencing, as companies outside the country are investing significantly in fintech.

“I agree. We do hope that the next administration can further this strong momentum and take advantage of it,” Patricia Mirasol, the episode’s moderator, matched up.

In addition, Paolo Azzola, Chief Strategy Officer of Maya, shared his idea that the world today is in the worse part than where it was six months ago, emphasizing that the poor performance of the capital markets, the suffering of tech companies, the inflation, and the money printing issue are the things that we should worry about.

“The picture in the Philippines and the picture from fintech in the PH is completely different. There is momentum in terms of growth; the first quarter in this country has shown that growth is here and will continue,” he said.

The representative of Maya also stressed at the beginning of the discussion that educating the community about financial literacy has been a success that happened through the years.

“And I do think that fintech is primed to break out, we’ve seen that over the last two to three years. A lot more foreign companies come to the Philippines as investment into fintech companies and that will continue to grow,” he added.

Azzola also mentioned that the resumption of tourism in the country, after the almost two years cost of the CoViD-19 Pandemic, will bring a lot of money back into the country.

Meanwhile, Jovelyn Hao, Acting Group Head in-charged in Fintech of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), pledged that the Central Bank is committed in providing a regulatory framework for the fintech industry.

“We will also continue with the collaborative engagement with the industry and also the other key stakeholders in the financial services in the industry. The BSP remains firm in terms of coming up and sharing our consumer awareness program together with the industry. We’ll work closely with the industry in terms of delivering customer specific awareness program so that we can all benefit from all the advantages that this financial technology is offering to the market,” Hao concluded.

Just last week, the next governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) under the Marcos Administration, Felipe Medalla, expressed that he is not interested in regulating crypto and dismissed it as based on the “greater fool theory.”

But despite his crypto remarks, he pledged that the BSP will remain data-driven under his leadership.

Some fintech companies in the country offer crypto service, like Maya, PDAX, and Coins.ph.

This article is published on BitPinas: Marcos Admin Urged to Maximize the Opportunity to Expand Fintech