MYNT President and CEO Martha Sazon brought the Philippines’ experience in digital financial inclusion to the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit on Wednesday, citing the rise in formal financial account ownership to 50 percent of Filipino adults and GCash’s extension of credit to more than 11 million borrowers.
Sazon delivered the keynote, “Rethinking Credit: From Invisible to Empowered,” during the plenary session on “Capital and Markets as System Levers,” which examined how capital and financial markets can contribute to more inclusive economies.
She said digital technology can help address long-standing gaps not only in access to financial services but also in access to formal credit.
Sazon cited data showing that formal financial account ownership in the Philippines has increased from 29 percent before the pandemic to 50 percent today.
Despite the increase, she said access to formal borrowing remains limited, with formal borrowing penetration at 12 percent, which she described as among the lowest levels in Southeast Asia.
Many Filipinos remain unable to access conventional credit because they lack the documentation, collateral or credit history traditionally required by financial institutions, she said.
Sazon cited data showing that 40 percent of Filipinos borrow from informal sources, including family and friends and, when these options are unavailable, informal lenders and online lenders.
She said the expansion of digital finance provides an opportunity to narrow the gap by making financial services and credit more accessible to people who have traditionally been underserved by the formal financial system.
At GCash, Sazon said the company uses GScore, its proprietary AI-powered credit scoring system, to assess customers based on their digital financial behavior.
The system provides an alternative to conventional credit assessment that relies heavily on collateral and other traditional requirements, she said.
Eligible customers with a good GScore may be pre-approved for loans without additional requirements, allowing the company to offer credit based on customers’ financial activity, according to Sazon.
She cited the case of a borrower who used a GCash loan to finance her bar review after failing her first attempt at the bar examination and later passed.
Sazon also cited smaller loans, saying GCash offers credit starting at P100 to help customers cover short-term expenses before payday.
She said financial inclusion should go beyond simply providing access to money and should also involve treating borrowers fairly and with dignity.
Sazon said GCash has extended credit to more than 11 million borrowers, largely from underserved communities, with women accounting for about half of the borrowers.
She said expanding access to credit can have broader economic effects because women play a major role in managing household finances, while credit can help households meet expenses and support small businesses.
Sazon said the Philippines’ experience shows how digital financial services can help bring more people into the formal financial system, while acknowledging that financial inclusion remains a work in progress.
She said GCash would continue developing lending and other financial services as part of its broader goal of “Finance for All.”
“When people are seen, they can be trusted. And when they are trusted, they can be empowered,” Sazon said.
She said the broader objective was to transform the nation “one Filipino, one story at a time.”