DIGITAL banks are becoming a preferred source of future borrowing among Filipinos, a TransUnion study showed, even as households remain cautious about their financial prospects.
TransUnion’s 2026 Credit Perception Index (CPI) found that Filipinos’ intent to borrow from digital banks is up by 11 percentage points to 22 percent, the biggest gain among the credit sources tracked by the survey.
Traditional banks saw an 8 percentage-point increase to 34 percent, while credit cards rose 6 percentage points to 43 percent.
“Compared to past credit sources, more Filipinos intend to borrow from digital banks,” TransUnion Philippines President and CEO Peter Faulhaber told reporters on Wednesday.
Borrowing from family or friends remained the number one preference at 45 percent, but this fell 11 percentage points from 56 percent.
“[B]orrowing preferences continued to shift toward formal financial institutions,” TransUnion said.
The rising preference for digital banks, it added, “appears to be supported by rising consumer familiarity and confidence,” with over half (52 percent) reported using a digital bank.
The perceived safety of digital banks also improved 11 percentage points to 84 percent, next only to the 88 percent for traditional banks.
Financial confidence drops
Meanwhile, the TransUnion survey also found that expectations for financial improvement had fallen to their lowest levels since 2023.
Sixty-four percent of respondents said their financial situation was likely to improve over the next three months, while 73 percent said it could improve over the next year. Both figures were down 3 percentage points from 2025.
Inflation, rising living costs and energy prices were identified as leading concerns affecting consumers’ financial outlook.
Despite these pressures, Filipinos were said to be taking more proactive steps to manage their finances. The proportion of those planning to borrow or use credit for purchases increased to 43 percent from 38 percent, while 66 percent planned to use a wider range of financial products and services.
Seventy percent also said they intended to explore new digital products and fintech services.
TransUnion found that 93 percent of Filipinos reported using at least one fintech product in 2026, up from 91 percent in 2025. E-wallets remained the most widely used at 81 percent, followed by digital banks at 52 percent and digital payment apps at 49 percent.
The study also found that e-wallets had become an important entry point into the formal financial system. Nearly half, or 46 percent, said an e-wallet was their first financial product, more than twice the 20 percent who cited a traditional bank account.
“E-wallets continued to be the FinTech product most commonly associated with positive impact and were also perceived as the most convenient digital financial service,” TransUnion said.
Record-high credit perception
The increased openness toward formal credit came as Filipinos’ overall perception of credit reached 75 from 73 in 2025, the highest since the study was launched in 2023.
“What stands out this year is that confidence in credit continued to improve even as consumers faced a more challenging economic environment,” Faulhaber said.
General knowledge about credit remained at 69 percent while knowledge of specific products improved across most categories.
The improvement in credit perception was uneven, however, with the unbanked population recording a CPI score of 65, down from 67 in 2025.
This left a 10-point gap with the CPI score of the general population, highlighting the continuing challenge of ensuring that the shift toward formal and digital finance reaches financially excluded consumers.