Maya offers credit facility for micro-entrepreneurs

CEBU, Philippines — Maya, the Philippines’ largest digital bank and fintech ecosystem, has unveiled a new credit facility aimed at micro-entrepreneurs in the informal sector, leveraging real-time transaction data to extend collateral-free credit to underserved market vendors and transport workers.

Dubbed “Paleng-Kita,” the initiative is Maya’s latest move to deepen its reach into the country’s largely unbanked sector.

The program builds on the government-led “Paleng-QR Ph,” initiative spearheaded by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), which promotes the use of QR Ph—the national QR code standard—for person-to-merchant payments.

“Millions of small vendors and drivers still operate outside the reach of formal credit,” said Shailesh Baidwan, Maya Group President and Maya Bank Co-Founder.

“By analyzing their cashless payment behavior, we are able to offer fair, accessible, and transparent credit products,” Baidwan stressed.

Paleng-Kita functions by linking QR-based digital payments with Maya’s proprietary AI-driven credit scoring engine. Once merchants begin transacting through Maya QR, the platform builds a transaction profile that feeds into Maya Advance, the credit service underlying the program.

Approved users can access credit lines beginning at P3,000.

The process is fully digital and requires no traditional credit history, collateral, or physical paperwork—components that have long excluded informal workers from the formal lending system.

“This is about translating digital payments into real economic empowerment,” Baidwan added.

Credit Inclusion Gap

Despite comprising 99 percent of all registered businesses in the Philippines, micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) receive only 4 percent of total bank lending, according to data from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

The yawning gap in access to capital has stunted growth for many small enterprises, particularly in public markets and the transport sector.

By turning digital payment records into a credible basis for lending, Maya’s new product could help reverse this trend.

Strategic Ecosystem Expansion

Paleng-Kita forms part of Maya’s broader strategy to embed digital finance into everyday commerce. It also supports BSP’s national digital payments roadmap and financial inclusion targets, which aim to onboard 70 percent of Filipino adults into the formal financial system.

“We’re not just issuing credit—we’re formalizing the economic activity of everyday Filipinos,” said Renan Santiago, Head of MSME Business at Maya. “This is a scalable model to unlock growth at the grassroots level.

Maya currently leads the Philippine fintech sector, operating the country’s top digital bank and the largest omnichannel payment processor. Its banking services are regulated by the BSP, with deposits insured by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) up to ?1 million per depositor.

As Maya doubles down on ecosystem-driven credit solutions, Paleng-Kita could become a blueprint for inclusive finance in emerging markets—where data, not collateral, defines creditworthiness. — (FREEMAN)