Maya Bank [TEL 1420.00 1.28%] [link] says that it took only 5 months to hit 1 million customer accounts and P10 billion in customer deposits. Maya Bank is the digital banking arm of the Maya payments app (formerly PayMaya). TEL owns a significant minority stake in Maya’s parent company, Voyager Innovations.
MB Quick Take: That’s explosive growth. P10 billion in deposits would land Maya Bank in 38th spot on the BSP’s list of the country’s largest banks. And it’s only been accepting money since April. This is the kind of growth that Maya’s international investors, which include KKR, Tencent, IFC, and SIG Venture Capital, have paid nearly $400 million to get a piece of. Assuming the same rate of growth, with Maya Bank have 1.6 million customers and P16 billion in deposits by the end of the year? Where will this rocket be by the end of its first full year in 2023? With growth stories like this, everyone is going to be watching for the point at which the explosive growth fades. Obviously, Maya Bank is not at that point yet.
Starlink PH (SPH) [link] will delay the start of PH-based operations of its satellite internet service until mid-2023. Originally, the Elon Musk-owned ISP targeted December of this year to start operations. SPH blames delays in the production of the low Earth-orbit satellites needed to facilitate the service for the delay in the service’s Philippine roll-out. Once the satellites are in position, SPH will begin offering equipment at $599 per unit, with a $99/month service connectivity fee.
MB Quick Take: It will be very interesting to see the consumer appetite for something that costs P35,000, plus an additional P5,900/month to operate. Make no mistake, ISPs like Globe [GLO 2220.00 0.45%], PLDT [TEL 1420.00 1.28%], Converge [CNVRG 12.48 0.32%], and Transpacific Broadband Group International [TBGI 0.24 4.82%] will be watching very closely. In a way, Elon Musk is performing a live market feasibility study, and the other ISPs will be happy to cluster around Starlink’s price point to offer competitive plans in areas that demonstrate an unusual density of high-paying remote customers.
SM Prime Holdings [SMPH 31.20 0.65%] [link] will open its newest supermall in Tanza tomorrow, called SM City Tanza. This will be SMPH’s 7th supermall in Cavite. SM City Tanza will open with 89% of its leasable space under contract.
MB Quick Take: SMPH is still placing large bets on the role of the supermall as the sub-regional entertainment hub. The south will see a lot of attention over the next decade with plenty of infrastructure expansion (airports, roadways, bridges), and SMPH is hoping to catch a slice of this growth with the strategic placement of its signature supermalls.
--