NEARLY 80% of Filipinos are expected to adopt financial technology (fintech) services through mobile applications by the end of year, according to consumer finance company Digido.
“The adoption rate of financial technology in the Philippines through mobile apps among the population aged 15 years old and above may increase to 79.5% or approximately 66.4 million unique users by the end of 2024,” it said in a statement on Thursday. Unique users are those that have used at least one application in the last 30 days.
Digital commerce platforms are expected to lead the increase in adoption rate and contribute 34%, followed by digital wallets (27.2%) and digital banking (8.6%).
Based on Digido’s latest analysis, in the first half of the year, the largest growth of downloads was seen in the digital lending sector with 25.4 million, followed by digital commerce (13.5 million) and digital wallets (12.2 million).
Digital payments and transfers, digital banking and digital personal finance applications also posted increases of 7.8 million, 6.2 million and four million, respectively.
The digital banking sector saw the fastest growth in downloads in the first semester at 22.34%. Downloads in digital payments and transfers rose by 17.72%, while digital lending recorded a 16.81% increase.
“The positive numbers seen in digital lending, digital wallets and digital commerce can be attributed to growing trust in these segments and its natural synergies with one another. As strong demand for fintech in the Philippines continues, so too Filipinos’ expectations of convenience, interoperability and improved user experience across these applications,” Digido Business Development Manager Rose Arreco was quoted as saying.
“We believe that the Philippines remains on course towards widespread digitalization, with its ‘fintech-ization’ far from weakening. Collaboration within and outside of the industry remains paramount for this growth to be realized at a faster rate,” Ms. Arreco added.
Digido added that the mobile adoption rate of fintech services among adults in the Philippines stood at 76.2% or 63.1 million unique users from September 2018 to June 2024, based on figures from the data.ai service.
The number of cumulative downloads of fintech mobile applications in the country in that period reached 617 million, it said.
“By sector, digital commerce led the way with 31.4% of downloads, followed by digital wallets at 21.7% and digital lending at 20.3%. Making up the rest were digital payments and transfers (11.6%), digital personal finance apps (8%) and digital banking (7%),” it said.
On average, the number of downloads grows by 10.26% every six months, Digido added. — B.M.D. Cruz
