MAYA GROUP expects to stay profitable this 12 months as its digital bank continues to roll out more products to tap different market sectors.
“We became profitable in December, and we proceed to be profitable month on month since then,” Maya Group President and Maya Bank Co-Founder Shailesh Baidwan told reporters on the sidelines of an event late on Wednesday.
“[It’s still] early days for our bank card business, but at this stage, we’re extremely completely happy with the best way the purchasers are using our products. And with the profitability profile of our products, we expect to sustain the profitability for the remaining of the 12 months,” Mr. Baidwan said.
Maya Bank on Wednesday officially launched its Maya Black bank card, which is its second card product and seeks to cater first-time credit cardholders through secured and unsecured credit lines, fast digital approval, fast virtual issuance, and full in-app control. The cardboard also offers other perks like rewards points called Maya Miles, airport lounge access via DragonPass.
Maya Black now has over 40,000 cardholders following the cardboard’s pilot rollout in May.
Overall, the digital bank has issued over 230,000 bank cards since August 2024, including its co-branded card with membership shopping mart Landers Superstore.
Maya Group or Maya Innovations Holdings, Pte. Ltd., formerly Voyager Innovations Holdings, Pte. Ltd., is the parent holding company of Maya Philippines, Inc. and Maya Bank, Inc.
Maya Philippines is registered with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) as an electronic money issuer, remittance and transfer company, operator of payment system, and virtual asset services provider. Meanwhile, Maya Bank is certainly one of the six BSP-licensed digital banks within the country.
PLDT Inc., Maya Innovations’ principal shareholder, said in May that the group posted a net income of P127 million in the primary quarter, driven by strong lending, deposit, and payments volumes, with Maya Bank being within the black starting September 2024.
PLDT expects the group to generate about P1 billion in profit this 12 months.
As of end-June, Maya Bank reached 8.2 million customers and over P50 billion in deposits, Mr. Baidwan said.
“As you roll out more lending products, you’ve got to be sure that the margins support the best form of provisions and losses, in order that’s what we want to work on. We’re more than happy with the present set of products,” he said.
Provisioning and the digital bank’s artificial intelligence (AI)-powered credit scoring will keep nonperforming loan levels manageable as they launch more consumer products like bank cards, with lots of their clients being first-time cardholders, the official added.
“Lower than 15% of Filipino adults have a bank card. So, 85% are still to receive a bank card. So, there are things that we’ll test and learn along the best way due to things just like the coverage from the credit bureau will not be where we would love it to be, so we’re always testing, learning, after which tweaking our AI engines for credit scoring and underwriting,” Mr. Baidwan said.
He added that the bank’s current product profile cushions it from the potential earnings impact of lower borrowing costs.
“We’re cognizant of any softening that happens in rates of interest. But at this stage, we imagine — given the best way our products are profiled, given the stage of growth that we’re in, and the expansion journey that now we have ahead — we aren’t at a mature level when it comes to our loan-to-deposit ratio, so now we have more headroom to grow. We imagine at this stage we might be comfortable and okay with some reductions which can be expected for rates within the near future.”
Mr. Baidwan also said that Maya Bank will proceed to serve underserved segments, with plans to tap the micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) sector by providing them with capital loans.
Meanwhile, Maya Group on Wednesday also launched Maya Black Preferred, a merchant-linked rewards program that connects its credit platform to its acquiring network. Under this system, Maya Black cardholders can earn as much as 10 times Maya Miles after they shop at over 600 Maya Black Preferred merchants nationwide.
Maya Group plans to further expand this program to MSMEs by utilizing behavioral insights from its suite of business tools Maya Checkout, Maya POS (point-of-sale) and Maya Business Manager, it said.
“We’re not only launching a bank card — we’re activating the complete power of Maya’s ecosystem. With innovations just like the Maya Black Preferred partner program, we won’t only expand access to credit but in addition create even greater value for consumers and businesses alike,” Mr. Baidwan said in a speech on the launch.
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