{"id":38618,"date":"2026-08-18T21:00:42","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T13:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techbeatph.com\/wproot\/?p=38618"},"modified":"2026-08-18T18:24:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T10:24:03","slug":"maya-digital-infrastructure-asean-financial-inclusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.techbeatph.com\/wproot\/maya-digital-infrastructure-asean-financial-inclusion\/","title":{"rendered":"Maya Says Stronger Digital Infrastructure, Clearer Rules Can Drive ASEAN Financial Inclusion"},"content":{"rendered":"

The next stage of financial inclusion in Southeast Asia will require more than expanding access to digital banking and payments. Maya Bank<\/a> President and CEO Angelo Madrid said stronger digital infrastructure, clearer regulations, and competitive markets will be essential to making digital financial services sustainable across ASEAN.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the ASEAN Tech Summit Manila 2026, Madrid said the region has made significant progress in digital payments, financial services, and account access. The bigger challenge now is turning that access into measurable improvements in people’s financial lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccess is necessary, but an opened account or downloaded app is not yet a financial outcome,\u201d Madrid said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Madrid made the remarks during the Futurecast panel \u201cBuilding Sustainable and Inclusive Financial Services Ecosystems in ASEAN,\u201d which explored the role of technology, regulation, infrastructure, and business models in the region’s digital finance sector.<\/p>\n

Shared digital infrastructure can lower costs<\/h4>\n

Madrid said governments and infrastructure providers can accelerate financial inclusion by investing in digital foundations that benefit the wider financial ecosystem. These include digital identity systems, payment and settlement infrastructure, real-time fraud intelligence, trusted data-sharing standards, and reliable connectivity.<\/p>\n

Building these capabilities at an ecosystem level can reduce friction and system-wide costs, allowing banks and other financial institutions to focus their resources on improving products and services.<\/p>\n

\u201cStrong shared infrastructure creates a foundation on which providers can compete more effectively on price, service, reach and innovation,\u201d Madrid said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Digital identity is one example. Madrid said trusted and interoperable identity systems can simplify customer onboarding while helping reduce fraud, provided they protect user privacy.<\/p>\n

He also pointed to Open Finance, which could expand consumer choice when customers retain control over their data and regulators establish clear standards for consent, security, liability, and portability.<\/p>\n

Affordability needs to come with reliability and trust<\/h4>\n

While keeping digital financial services<\/a> affordable remains important for financial inclusion, Madrid said pricing should be considered alongside transparency, reliability, security, and consumer choice.<\/p>\n

Digital financial platforms require ongoing investments in cybersecurity, fraud prevention, settlement and reconciliation, customer support, system resilience, compliance, and product development.<\/p>\n

\u201cConsumers should have access to affordable and transparent services, but affordability does not mean every provider must arrive at the same price,\u201d Madrid said.<\/p>\n

Financial institutions operate under different licenses, business models, and cost structures. Madrid argued that competition should allow providers to differentiate themselves while maintaining fair value, consumer protection, and reliable service.<\/p>\n

Clear regulations can support digital finance innovation<\/h4>\n

Madrid also called for a regulatory environment that provides clear objectives while remaining proportionate and predictable.<\/p>\n

Financial institutions have different licenses, permitted activities, balance-sheet requirements, and prudential obligations. A common regulatory framework therefore needs to protect consumers without treating every institution and business model identically.<\/p>\n

\u201cClear and predictable regulation supports consumer trust while giving institutions the confidence to continue investing and innovating,\u201d Madrid said.<\/p>\n

He added that consumer protection and innovation do not necessarily have to conflict. Instead, regulators can establish strong standards and clear outcomes while giving financial institutions room to develop new products and compete within those boundaries.<\/p>\n

ASEAN’s digital finance ecosystem is becoming more connected<\/h4>\n

The discussion comes as financial services across Southeast Asia become increasingly digital and interconnected. Payments, digital banking, data-sharing, and identity systems are becoming more important to how consumers access financial services across the region.<\/p>\n

For Madrid, the next challenge is ensuring that the infrastructure supporting this growth keeps pace with adoption.<\/p>\n

\u201cPayments and financial services are already becoming more connected across ASEAN,\u201d he said. \u201cThe next step is making sure trust, identity, data, and consumer protection can move with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The approach could allow ASEAN’s digital finance market to expand while preserving competition among banks, fintech companies, and other financial institutions with different capabilities and business models.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The next stage of financial inclusion in Southeast Asia will require more than expanding access to digital banking and payments. Maya Bank President and CEO Angelo Madrid said stronger digital infrastructure, clearer regulations, and competitive markets will be essential to making digital financial services sustainable across ASEAN. Speaking at the ASEAN Tech Summit Manila 2026,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":38619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4162],"tags":[25260,1091,25327,4171,4167,577,1673,3725,29350,1775],"class_list":["post-38618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fintech","tag-asean","tag-digital-banking","tag-digital-finance","tag-financial-inclusion","tag-financial-services","tag-fintech","tag-maya","tag-maya-bank","tag-open-finance","tag-philippines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.techbeatph.com\/wproot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.techbeatph.com\/wproot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.techbeatph.com\/wproot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.techbeatph.com\/wproot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.techbeatph.com\/wproot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38618"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.techbeatph.com\/wproot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38618\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38620,"href":"https:\/\/www.techbeatph.com\/wproot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38618\/revisions\/38620"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.techbeatph.com\/wproot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.techbeatph.com\/wproot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.techbeatph.com\/wproot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.techbeatph.com\/wproot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}