New players and existing banks in the country are interested to secure a license to operate digital banks, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
The BSP, however, will only accommodate four new licenses as it only limits a maximum of 10 digital banks to operate in the country, and there are currently six digital banks in the country. For the four remaining slots, the BSP will also allow the conversion of an existing bank license to digital bank licenses.
"There are new players that are exploring and are interested to enter the Philippine market, but based on our issuance, we will only start accepting new applicants by January 1, 2025," BSP Senior Director for Technology Risk & Innovation Supervision Melchor Plabasan said on the sidelines of the 2024 BSP-International Monetary Fund Systemic Risk Dialogue here on Wednesday.
Aside from the entry of new players, Plabasan said the BSP is also determining which among the digicentric institutions now can be considered as operating like a digital bank.
"So we can also transition their license from, let's say rural bank or thrift bank, to digital bank. Because if you're already behaving like a digital bank, you should be regulated like a digital bank, not a rural bank. That's why the intention really is to minimize the arbitrage," he added.
If the BSP has a basis to convert their license, they will be required to do so, Plabasan said.
He added that this means all the requirements for digital banks will have to be complied with by these institutions like the P1 billion capital and other prudential requirements.
In August, the BSP announced that it has lifted the moratorium on issuing new digital banking licenses. Starting Jan. 1, 2025, the BSP will resume granting licenses to digital banks.
"There are existing players who would like their license be converted to digital bank. And there are also foreign players that have signified interest to enter the Philippine market. We have already received some queries about certain legal requirements, regulatory requirements," said Plabasan.
"We will start accepting by January 1. And by January 1, probably we have done also some assessment of the existing players there," he said.
Plabasan said the chartering is expected to be completed within three to four months.
At present, six digital banks are operating in the country.
These include GoTyme Bank, Maya Bank, Overseas Filipino Bank, UnionDigital Bank, UNObank and Tonik Digital Bank.
