Digital Banks Overtake Incumbents as Philippine Deposits Surge 44%
Digital bank deposits in the Philippines reached P138.5 billion by the end of 2025, a rise of nearly 44 per cent year on year, as app-based lenders continue to pull funding growth away from the country's traditional banks. The figure, drawn from Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas data, sits behind a broader repositioning of the Philippine banking market that industry leaders will examine at the fifth World Financial Innovation Series (WFIS) in Manila on 25 and 26 August.
How fast are Philippine digital banks actually growing?
The headline deposit number understates the pace of customer acquisition. The country's six licensed digital banks counted 22.4 million depositors at the end of 2025, an 81 per cent jump from 2024, with those funds held across 33.9 million accounts. That expansion far outstripped the wider Philippine banking system, whose total deposits grew 7.4 per cent to P22 trillion over the same period.
Lending has grown faster still. Digital banks' combined loan book reached P71.5 billion by January 2026, up nearly 73 per cent year on year. The sector's total assets climbed 40.5 per cent to P165.35 billion in 2025, the highest growth rate of any banking segment in the country.
The trajectory has not slowed since. By the first quarter of 2026, digital bank deposits had already passed P150 billion, according to subsequent BSP figures, confirming that the 2025 surge was not a one-off spike.
Are digital banks now beating the incumbents?
On customer sentiment, in several respects yes. In the Forbes World's Best Banks 2026 ranking, compiled with Statista from a survey of more than 54,000 customers across 34 countries, eight Philippine banks were listed and digital-native lenders took the top two positions. MariBank Philippines, controlled by Singapore's Sea Ltd and integrated into the Shopee ecosystem, ranked first, followed by GoTyme Bank. Maya Bank placed fifth, putting three neobanks inside the top five.
The result is narrower than a clean win for digital models. The remaining five names in the Philippine list were established institutions: Bank of the Philippine Islands, UnionBank of the Philippines, Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company, Land Bank of the Philippines and Philippine National Bank. Forbes reported that trustworthiness, defined as financial stability, remained the single most important factor for customers, with digital tools emerging as the primary differentiator only after that threshold was met. The ranking measures satisfaction, not balance-sheet strength, and traditional banks still hold the overwhelming majority of system assets.
What is the catch behind the deposit surge?
Profitability. Nearly five years after the central bank opened the segment, many digital banks are still not making money. Their appetite for deposits has been fuelled partly by high savings rates used to attract funds, and their loan books skew towards higher-yield, riskier consumer borrowers. The sector's non-performing loan ratio stood at 6.16 per cent in January 2026, well above the 3.31 per cent recorded across the Philippine banking system as a whole. The BSP has said it is monitoring the segment closely as competition for funding intensifies.
That competition is about to widen. The central bank lifted its digital banking moratorium and is reviewing applications for up to four additional licences, a move analysts expect to sharpen the contest for deposits and pressure margins further.
What will WFIS 2026 focus on?
The two-day summit at Manila Marriott expects more than 600 banking, financial services and insurance leaders and over 40 speakers. Its agenda maps closely onto the regulatory and operational pressures the sector now faces: AI governance and agentic banking, cloud-native core modernisation, digital identity and deepfake defence, and embedded finance.
Confirmed speakers include Arifa Ala, senior assistant governor at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas; Lilian Cruz, senior vice president and chief information officer at Land Bank of the Philippines; Lito Villanueva, chief innovation and inclusion officer at Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation; and Jennifer Ng, chief marketing and customer experience officer at Philippine National Bank. The event is organised by Tradepass and supported by the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center, FinTech Alliance.ph, the Government Service Insurance System and the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines. A closing awards programme will be judged by a panel including Deloitte Philippines, KPMG and the Credit Card Association of the Philippines.
Why This Matters to FinanceX Readers
The Philippine market is a live test of whether digital-first banking can convert rapid deposit and customer growth into durable, profitable institutions, or whether the model stalls once high-rate deposit gathering meets rising credit losses. A 44 per cent deposit surge alongside a 6.16 per cent NPL ratio is the tension every observer of emerging-market neobanks should be watching.
For investors weighing exposure to Southeast Asian fintech, the next signal is not another growth figure but the first sign of sustainable profitability, and the arrival of four new licensees will show whether the deposit pool can support more entrants or simply fragments existing margins.
