Neobank or digital bank Tonik said it was able to secure a digital bank license from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

In December 2020, BSP released the guidelines for digital banks which include P1 billion capitalization. They are also allowed to offer traditional banking services but cannot put up any physical branch.

Tonik was officially launched in the Philippines in March this year. It announced that it raised over P1 billion ($20 million) in retail deposits in less than a month. Recently, Tonik has also bagged its Pre-Series B funding.

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“Securing a digital banking license is one of this year’s anticipated milestones for us,” said Greg Krasnov, founder and CEO, Tonik. “This will help us further strengthen our foothold in the neobanking space through accelerating the rollout of our additional lending and payment products.”

Rural bank license

In December 2019, Tonik received its initial rural bank license from the BSP, allowing the neobank to provide retail banking services focused on retail deposits, card payments, and consumer loans. A year later, the BSP issued Circular No. 1105 on The Guidelines on the Establishment of Digital Banks, clearing the way for Tonik to scale up and apply for a formal digital bank license.

“An official digital bank license will enable us to offer more products and services to narrow the gap between the banked population and the huge underserved segment in the Philippines,” said Long Pineda, country president at Tonik.

Tonik offers accessible, flexible, and inclusive financial services, including deposit interest rates of up to 6% per annum, and unique saving features such as its Solo Stash and Group Stash products, as well as Term Deposits.   

Tonik is supervised by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and deposits are insured by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC).  Its unique cloud-based solution is powered by global financial technology leaders such as Mastercard, Amazon Web Services, and Finastra.