Maya is calling for the Philippines to move beyond simply getting more people into the formal financial system and focus on whether financial services help Filipinos save, borrow responsibly, grow businesses, and handle emergencies.
Formal account ownership in the Philippines has more than doubled over the past decade, from 22% in 2015 to around 50% in 2025. But many Filipinos still mainly use financial accounts for transactions and remain underserved when it comes to savings and credit.
Speaking at the ASEAN Tech Summit Manila 2026, Toff Rada, head of Corporate Affairs at Maya, said financial inclusion should increasingly be measured by its effect on people’s financial security.
“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.”
Rada said national payment rails, digital identity, better credit information, and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) digital banking framework have created the foundation for broader financial access. The next step is using these systems to help consumers build savings and gain access to affordable credit.
Digital payments can also help financial institutions understand consumers and businesses with limited or no traditional credit history. Maya said payment activity through the Maya app and Maya Business can serve as a starting point for more financial services, including 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.”
Maya is also using AI for digital onboarding, personalization, credit assessment, fraud detection, and customer protection.
Rada said financial education should also be built into financial products rather than treated as separate seminars or campaigns. Maya’s high-yield savings and time deposit products use rate boosts and rewards to encourage customers to save, while Maya XP uses personalized missions, nudges, and rewards to encourage healthier financial habits.
“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 measures of financial health and more interoperable payment and data systems.
Rada joined the “Beyond Financial Inclusion: Advancing Financial Health at Scale” panel at the ASEAN Tech Summit Manila 2026, co-organized by FinTech Alliance.PH and the ASEAN Business Advisory Council Philippines.