Julia Christine Botin

Maya or Smart Money? Pangilinan says only one stays

Article (news)

Jekki Pascual

ABS-CBN News

MANILA - Will PLDT back both Smart Money and Maya? PLDT and Smart Chairman and CEO Manny Pangilinan said the two units can still co-exist for now; however, he said one may have to go eventually. PLDT owns less than 40 percent of Maya, which is both a digital bank and an e-wallet. The other investors, including global investment firm KKR, own the remaining shares.Meanwhile, Smart Money, which was revived recently, is fully owned by PLDT and is the precursor to Maya. Pangilinan said they are keen on increasing their stake in Maya.  “Whether they (other investors) sell all of it or some of it, we don’t know that, so we’d been keen to buy all or part of their stake,” Pangilinan told reporters. But Pangilinan said that, eventually, there can only be one e-wallet for PLDT. “We will find out what we will do, Smart Money or PayMaya. And I think it will turn on what KKR wants to do. Because for now, management essentially of Maya is with them, it’s not really with us,” he said. “If they completely sell out their stake of 30 percent, then we’ll take over the management, and then we’ll do something with both wallets. We can’t have two wallets. You can only have one.” Smart officials said they brought back Smart Money to combat the leading e-wallet and rival GCash. “We are actually piloting Smart Money, but specifically aimed at the employees of the MVP Group of Companies. But of course, the aspiration is to grow to the scale that it was before. Because this is our legacy,” said Smart Chief Operating Officer Anastacio Martirez. Martirez added that PLDT wants to get back the market share that it used to have in the fintech space. Maya, meanwhile, has now hit <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/business/2025/2/27/pldt-telco-core-net-income-edges-up-in-2024-maya-now-profitable-1647" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">profitability</a> in recent months both for Maya Bank and its e-wallet unit. It has grown its customer base to 5.4 million in 2024, a 71 percent increase from the year before. Loan disbursements also hit P92 billion, while deposits reached P39 billion. Maya has also issued 125,000 credit cards in six months through its partnership with Lander’s. It is also focused this year on expanding its credit and lending portfolio while also growing the banking and payments service.<div>RELATED STORY:</div><div><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TSPIFjfFvas?&amp;ab_channel=ANC24%2F7autoplay=1&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe> </div>

Which fintech platform will PLDT keep? Manny Pangilinan said one will eventually have to leave.

Which fintech platform will PLDT keep? Manny Pangilinan said one will eventually have to leave.