PH becomes global digital hotspot | Business and Politics - video Dailymotion

The Manila Times

PH becomes global digital hotspot | Business and Politics  RCBC Executive Vice President Lito Villanueva says that in their latest report, the Philippines is way ahead of its target in terms of digital and finance technologies. More and more companies and users are in the digital economy.    Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe   Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net   Follow us:  Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook  Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram  Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter  DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion   Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital   Check out our Podcasts:  Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify  Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts  Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic  Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer  Stitcher: https://tmt.ph/stitcher Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein  #TheManilaTimes #SMNIBusinessandPolitics

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00:00 Let's switch it up a little bit and talk about your work in Alliance.ph

00:04 One of the things that that you advocate is of course are fintechs, startups,

00:08 entrepreneurship.

00:10 Can you talk about that? Where are the opportunities exactly in that space? And you know,

00:16 how can we take advantage of those opportunities?

00:20 Well, I have some good news to share with you and to share with our audience.

00:25 We released about two months ago, we released the latest Philippine fintech report for 2023.

00:32 In fact, the fintech alliance was

00:35 included in the Philippine Development Plan under the Marcos administration. And one of those

00:41 metrics

00:44 included under NEDA or the National Economic Development Authority

00:47 and also the SEC is for us to grow the number of fintech players in the Philippines.

00:54 From the baseline of just, you know,

00:58 16

01:00 and to grow that by

01:02 161

01:04 by

01:05 sorry, from 116 to 261 in year

01:09 2028.

01:10 In fact, we have reached that goal as early as 2023.

01:15 So we're actually five years advanced in terms of meeting that target set under the Philippine Development Plan.

01:22 So what are the, you know, what it indicates practically?

01:27 The robustness or how the Philippines has now become a digital hotspot.

01:33 Where fintech investors would actually be lured to be part or to come to Philippines and invest in our fintech

01:42 startups or even fintech players in the industry. And you know for a fact that we now have

01:48 at least two unicorns. That would be Maya and Gcash. Gcash being a double unicorn, a trillion dollar

01:55 valuation, right? So and we hope that there will be more unicorns in the Philippines and

02:02 the thriving startup industry in the Philippines as far as fintechs are concerned

02:08 is really very promising, right? While we could see that there has been

02:14 I could say that this is more of a

02:18 investment

02:20 you know, winter in a way

02:23 because we have not seen the you know, the dramatic

02:27 growth when it comes to

02:30 fintech investments for the past couple of years and because of course for obvious reasons the geopolitical tension

02:37 some you know economic condition, the global economic conditions.

02:42 And now we have the Israel

02:44 conflict aside from the Ukraine, Russia

02:47 geopolitical tension. The things that are you know that we are seeing right now would be I think it would

02:55 you know still

02:58 continue until maybe two to three years until you see more investors

03:03 to come you know to come into Philippines to invest in some fintech startups in the country.

03:10 I was wondering if

03:12 there are other opportunities beyond you know these companies that you mentioned that had basically digital wallets, right?

03:19 And it's interesting that you brought them up because

03:22 it doesn't conform with what I think of as a startup because you know you have Gcash

03:27 you have the Ayala Group behind it, you have Globe, right? You know already a very large corporation. Maya of course you have PLDT.

03:35 You know when I think of a startup, I'm talking about like a young maybe

03:40 college dropout who comes up with I don't know the next grab or the next type of application like that.

03:46 Besides digital wallets, what are the other opportunities you see that can grow? Because I see for example Angkas

03:53 doing very well.

03:56 I'm not sure. Mobility.

03:58 Mobility. What other I suppose services do you think would be right for a fintech

04:05 investment and present you know

04:09 opportunities for growth? You know if you are to see the fintech pie in terms of verticals, payments would definitely

04:16 be the leader in so far as the number of players in a particular vertical. And second to that would be lending, right?

04:24 Okay, so lending definitely would be the

04:27 well the cash cow, supposedly the one that will really generate more revenues for any

04:33 fintech

04:36 player. So and that's followed by other

04:39 verticals such as into wealth for example or regtech or subtech

04:44 or even insurance etc.

04:47 But the good news as well is that

04:49 again the regulator BSP came up with what they call the regulatory sandbox and even SEC came up with a draft

04:56 circular on its on sandbox as well

05:01 wherein it allows you

05:03 for allows the industry or the industry players particularly startups

05:07 to have a test and learn

05:10 approach now wherein they will allow you to experiment on something

05:16 without you having to invest so much and without you having to conform with lots of regulatory

05:22 issuances. So practically they're giving you that sandbox or that you know that playground for you to

05:30 further innovate and once you can scale that once you can

05:33 experiment on that and see you know the positive you know that some you know

05:38 be able to test all your hypothesis there for example. You could now be able to scale that and now you're ready for

05:45 you know for it to be regulated, right? So at least

05:49 regulation is that something to be seen as a stumbling block especially for

05:54 for startups because it would really allow you to

05:59 to innovate and to have that playground for a test and learn approach.

06:05 Is there an ecosystem that exists in the Philippines? Because when I think of countries that have a lot of startups, right?

06:12 Including including FinTech startups. I mean Israel comes to mind maybe Singapore, but it's more than just a creativity of people in those countries

06:20 but there is this

06:22 ecosystem that exists

06:24 right? The angel investors, the financing. I mean there are many other components that exist to help them become

06:31 unicorns. What does the Philippines need? I mean do we have that ecosystem? Do we need certain parts of it

06:39 to make it you know work better? Yes, you know you're right. I mean

06:44 financing or funding is key in

06:47 really growing your business, especially for a startup. And in fact we have quite a number of

06:54 flaws, right? I mean for example the Philippine Innovation Act, but unfortunately it's not that well funded by government.

07:00 Because unlike in other parts of the world, I mean other countries,

07:05 there's so much resources. I mean meaning financial resources

07:09 with the aim of really backing up startups, right? That's why angel investors,

07:16 venture capitalists, etc.

07:19 And we've seen some countries where their startup

07:26 industry

07:28 has been thriving because of that resources, right? And I think the Philippines is also trying to gear up towards that direction.

07:36 And what comes to mind is you know an entity, I don't know if you have met this

07:41 entity called KUBO.

07:44 This is actually being funded, also being led by the PLDT Foundation together with

07:51 DTI and I think they also have foreign funding.

07:56 And the aim is really on how they can

07:59 assist or facilitate for

08:02 startups. In fact, I've been one of their

08:05 judges when it comes to having to

08:10 judge their presentations and try to mentor them as to how they could further

08:16 grow their, you know, how they could further improve their business case or their business model.

08:21 And I think this is I think also the

08:24 role of the industry, especially for practitioners,

08:29 to be able to also mentor

08:32 the

08:34 soon-to-be or future

08:37 tech giants as well or future FinTech leaders as well, right? Because again, it's more of giving back

08:44 and being able to provide that, you know, being able to share your knowledge and your experience or expertise

08:51 to the new breed or the new generation of

08:54 FinTech players. But do you think there should be new policies that the government should look at?

09:00 I know that some of the companies, including the ones that you work for in the past, they have their own private initiative, right? To

09:07 have incubators. Yes. But you know, how do we scale that, right? So that it's not just those companies that have that

09:14 vision or that willingness to help new players.

09:20 But how do we make it institutionalized so that there is an environment that encourages that?

09:26 Is

09:28 Alliance.ph

09:29 maybe thinking of proposing any new laws that maybe that or maybe there should be new

09:35 mindsets that should change in the country that

09:38 should be looked at? You know, Philippines is one of those countries with the most number of laws.

09:44 So I think we have enough of those laws or regulations.

09:49 Maybe too much. Maybe we should take away. Yeah, maybe it's more of again execution, implementation, right?

09:55 And I think the active participation of the private sector in terms of shepherding

10:02 the industry to make sure that we can be at par with the best of the

10:08 best in class in the world, right? So because the whole idea is on how we can

10:14 create value and how we can

10:17 promote quality, right?

10:19 And our aspiration has been to be

10:23 a global center of excellence, right? And the thing is that we can only do this with

10:30 with a clear mindset, with a clear vision of being able to have that culture of

10:36 excellence. And to your point,

10:40 you know, there are several

10:43 entities, for example, that are also looking into opportunities in the Philippines.

10:49 And this is something that we are also part of, that the Philippine Alliance has been partnering with. And in fact, this is also

10:55 our way of being able to

10:59 partner with quite a number of

11:01 governments. In fact, we have partnered with

11:04 the governments of Hungary,

11:06 the

11:10 Singapore FinTech Association and other FinTech associations of various countries.

11:14 In fact, we have now partnered with at least 25 countries,

11:19 and that would include Israel and

11:21 other, and of course Hungary and other

11:26 ASEAN member countries, right? So the whole idea here is

11:30 how can we provide or can tell the world that we are doing all of these initiatives and

11:38 be able to entice them to be part of our Philippine development initiatives.

11:43 So one thing that we are also doing is, this one is about our participation in the Singapore FinTech Festival.

11:51 This will happen

11:53 this coming November 15 to 17.

11:56 And you know, Singapore FinTech Festival is the

11:58 world's biggest

12:01 FinTech event wherein it is being attended by over 90,000 participants from 110 countries

12:07 worldwide. And FinTech Alliance will mount the Philippine Pavilion.

12:12 And this Philippine Pavilion will be known as the Bagong Pilipinas Philippine Pavilion in support of President Bongbong Marcos'

12:21 agenda

12:24 towards digitizing the Philippines, right? So the push of the government towards having a robust and sustainable digital economy

12:32 is now, you know, with this, you know, with this branding, with this

12:36 slogan of Bagong Pilipinas. So that's why the whole idea of us mounting that

12:41 at the Singapore FinTech Festival is really to showcase the Philippines as a digital hotspot where

12:48 potential investors could come in. And in fact, we are partnering with BSP, with the SEC, with DICT,

12:55 and with other government entities such as DTI,

12:59 Board of Investments, and other private and also other government agencies such as Land Bank, Development Bank of the Philippines, and other FinTech players

PH becomes global digital hotspot | Business and Politics

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