Malaya Business Insights – Maya, the only all-in-one money platform in the Philippines, is doubling down on its digital banking advantage to accelerate its growth in consumer finance and encourage more Filipinos to embrace new financial services such as credit and investments.
To support this thrust, Maya launched a new campaign in collaboration with multihyphenate star and newly minted Maya Brand Ambassador and Chief Advocacy Officer Hope Elizabeth “Liza” Soberano.
Dubbed “My Money. My Bank. My Way”, the campaign aims to bring digital banking to the mainstream and empower Filipinos to take control of their finances with innovations that make money management easier, more personalized, and rewarding.
Among the highlighted innovations in the campaign is Maya’s best-in-class consumer savings account that offers easy account opening with just one valid ID, a boosted high interest rate of up to 10 percent p.a., which can be achieved the more customers spend in their Maya wallet, daily interest crediting, and customizable personal goals.
Maya is also the first finance app to offer customers their own @username, making sending money as easy as tagging friends in TikTok or Instagram. Customers also love its sleek black Maya card, accepted by over 80 million merchants worldwide.
Today, Maya counts over 1.5 million bank customers. It is the no. 1 digital banking app in the Philippines, with the most app downloads and monthly active users among the country’s six licensed digital banks, per intelligence firm data.ai.
It is also the highest-rated finance app on the App Store and Google Play, beating leading e-wallet and bank brands, with a 99.94 percent uptime rate, easy account opening, and real-time transaction history features.
“Filipinos trust banks and like the convenience of e-wallets. By providing an all-in-one digital banking app where people can save, spend, borrow, and invest seamlessly, we have simplified the whole financial services experience for consumers. Our strategy has allowed us to deliver a superior and unmatched banking and payments experience, “ said Shailesh Baidwan, Maya Group President.
“Moreover, we’ve seen firsthand that customers who save or borrow transact 2 to 3 times more than payments-only users. Our innovations, such as daily interest crediting and gamified savings, have led to a stickier app experience, more types of transactions, and greater share of wallet,” he added.
To encourage more Filipinos to save and use digital transactions, Maya announced an update to its mission-led savings promo. Starting March 7, 2023, customers can boost their Maya savings with up to 10 percent p.a. daily interest rate the more they do wallet transactions.
Data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) 2021 Financial Inclusion Survey shows that 80 percent of adult Filipinos have smartphones.
Around 54 percent own a formal financial account, with e-wallet users accounting for 36 percent of this base.
Meanwhile, only 37 percent of Filipino adults have savings. Maya expressed confidence that this figure will increase with the availability of more seamless digital banking and payment experiences.
Further propelling Maya’s push is its game-changing “My Money. My Bank. My Way” marketing campaign with Soberano.
As Brand Ambassador, Soberano co-created Maya’s new marketing campaign, breaking the mold of traditional celebrity endorsements and changing the game for marketing financial services.
As Chief Advocacy Officer, Soberano will champion shared advocacies for financial inclusion with Maya and lead key initiatives, starting with a joint activity for Save The Children, the world’s leading independent organization for children, which Liza has been the ambassador of since 2021.
At the same time, she will help drive the advocacy agenda within Maya from their product roadmap to company culture.
“I’m excited for everyone to level up their banking experience with me through Maya because I love using their app. On top of that, working with Maya truly feels like a level up for me – it’s a joy to collaborate with them creatively, and I’m excited for the professional challenge of becoming their Chief Advocacy Officer,” Soberano said.
