First Pacific sees Maya turning profitable this year

MANILA, Philippines — Hong Kong-based investment holding firm First Pacific Co. Ltd., a company led by business titan Manuel V. Pangilinan, is seeing a profitable year for fintech platform Maya.

In its interim report 2024, First Pacific said that Maya is expected to be profitable by the end of the year.

First Pacific has a 25.6 percent economic interest in telco giant PLDT, which is the largest shareholder in Maya.

Maya is a fintech ecosystem that includes a wallet, a digital bank and a merchant acquiring business.

PLDT’s losses from Maya have dropped to P700 million in the first half from P1.2 billion in the same period last year.

First Pacific said Maya’s growth initiatives include lending solutions to key partners such as device financing with PLDT and Smart, as well as increases in loan channeling.

In the second quarter, Maya Bank has achieved positive cashflow.

Maya Bank currently leads the digital banking industry in the country with its four million depositors with a total deposit of P32.8 billion as of end June.

To date, Maya Bank has disbursed loans amounting to P46.8 billion to 1.2 million borrowers.

It has a comprehensive suite of lending products that include consumers loans, small and medium enterprises flexi loans and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises loans.

First Pacific said that majority or 85 percent of Maya customers are millennials and Gen Zs.

It added that 60 percent of borrowers have sole banking relationship with Maya.

Pangilinan, who serves as chairman, president and CEO of PLDT, earlier said that Maya has to prove first that it could be a profitable business before thinking about doing an initial public offering.

He admitted that while Maya is way behind GCash in digital wallet, Maya’s strength is in its digital bank.

Maya Bank is regulated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.