A fintech headquartered in Singapore has been granted a license to operate a digital bank in the Philippines. UNObank aims to bridge the financial inclusion gap to help pave the way for all Filipinos to have access to basic financial services.
Singapore headquartered fintech DigibankASIA Pte. Ltd., one of the primary incorporators of UNObank, has received approval from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to operate a digital bank in the Philippines. The first fintech to receive a license outright(2) to operate a digital bank, UNObank will be entirely regulated under the Digital Banking License framework in the Philippines.
DigibankASIA Pte. Ltd. is co-founded by three executives who collectively have extensive experience across banking, capital markets, treasury, lending, digitalisation, and technology. UNObank will be helmed by Manish Bhai as CEO, a career banker and tech entrepreneur. Co-founder Kalidas Ghose is a recognised fintech influencer who led the effort to build FE Credit in Vietnam from scratch and created VP Banks digital bank ecosystem. Puneet Gupta, Co-founder & CTO is an acclaimed deep tech innovator known for building cutting edge digital products and platforms.
With UNObank, the founders aim to help bridge the financial inclusion gap(3) in the Philippines and eventually Southeast and South Asia. UNO means ‘one’ and sets the premise for a digital bank that offers one app and one card to enable anyone anywhere in the Philippines to save, borrow, transact, invest, and protect their finances easily, with speed and ease.
UNObank is being built on a robust technology stack that includes products and services from highly regarded tech industry leaders including Mambu, Backbase, and AWS.
“The BSP’s vision and foresight to digitize the local banking industry is future-forward and apt, because ultimately it will help align the Philippines as a modern banking center for the region,” says Manish Bhai, of UNOBank. “We are very grateful to the BSP and honoured by the trust placed in our team.”
