Banking & Finance

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has taken up the cudgels for small borrowers, especially those who have been victimized by predatory lenders online. The SEC issued an order putting a cap of 6 percent per month or 0.2 percent a day as nominal interest rate that lending firms can charge on loans worth P10,000 and below. The corporate regulatory …

The country is paying more for interest on debts, specifically P723.2 billion from January to October this year, accounting for 37.4 percent of debt service. The  Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said  debt payments increased during the first ten months of the year, driven by a double-digit jump in interest payments to domestic and foreign lenders. The government’s debt payments …

By DIEGO C. CAGAHASTIAN Governor Eli Remolona Jr. of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) tried his hand at financial diplomacy in the international stage, with his plan to make regional financial health a focus for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) next year. Remolona said the Bangko Sentral wanted to play an active role in setting Southeast Asia’s …

Government officials especially the economic team of President Bongbong Marcos were happy to report that the inflation rate in November was down to 1.5%, a tiny improvement from October’s 1.7%, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). The PSA pointed out that the latest inflation rate figure is lower compared to the same month in 2024, which was 2.5%. In …

The banking industry is robust, and retail investors, businesses and individual consumers are availing themselves with affordable loans from the banks. This bodes well for a growing economy, even if saddled with various political woes. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has released its preliminary data showing bank lending continued to expand in October, driven by steady credit demand from …

The 28-day Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas bill (BSPB) registered a lower yield in this week’s auction as investors continued to show strong appetite for short-term securities, the BSP reported Friday. In a statement, the central bank said the weighted average interest rate (WAIR) for the 28-day tenor fell by 6.45 basis points week-on-week to 4.9461 percent. The BSP kept the …

Inflation in November is likely to settle within the range of 1.1 to 1.9 percent, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Friday.  This would be lower than the target range of 2 to 4 percent set by economic managers.  From January to October, the inflation rate averaged 1.7 percent, remaining flat below this range, as food prices largely …

BDO Unibank Inc., the country’s largest bank, raised $500 million from the sale of five-year fixed-rate senior notes to global investors as demand for the offering soared. A disclosure at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) showed that the transaction, under BDO’s Medium Term Note (MTN) program, was more than 3.2 times oversubscribed, with orders totaling around $1.6 billion. The senior …

Maya took center stage at Hong Kong FinTech Week x StartmeupHK Festival 2025 as it showcased how artificial intelligence is powering a new era of smarter, more inclusive digital banking for millions of Filipinos. Speaking before global fintech innovators and banking executives, Maya Group Chief Technology Officer Alfred Lo delivered a clear message: AI is no longer just a tool—it …

Since its establishment in 2014, Coins.ph has remained the leader in crypto exchanges in the country with over 16 million users. Through its mobile apps, users can buy and sell  a variety of cryptocurrencies and access a wide range of financial services such as paying bills and buying groceries. The company is also the first crypto-based firm in Asia to …