Maya Bank president and CEO Angelo Madrid said the region has made significant strides in digital payments, financial services and account ownership, but access alone does not necessarily translate into financial well-being.
“Access is necessary, but an opened account or downloaded app is not yet a financial outcome,” Madrid said at the recent ASEAN Tech Summit Manila.
“Real progress is when people can transact reliably, save regularly, borrow responsibly and become more resilient to financial shocks.”
Madrid joined the Future cast panel “Building Sustainable and Inclusive Financial Services Ecosystems in ASEAN,” which discussed how technology, regulation, infrastructure and business models could support the region’s next phase of digital finance.
Building the foundation
Madrid said governments and shared infrastructure providers could accelerate financial inclusion by investing in systems that benefit the broader ecosystem.
These include digital identity, payment and settlement infrastructure, real-time fraud intelligence, trusted data-sharing standards and reliable connectivity.
Such infrastructure can reduce friction and system-wide costs while allowing banks, fintech firms and other financial service providers to direct more resources toward improving products and services.
“Strong shared infrastructure creates a foundation on which providers can compete more effectively on price, service, reach and innovation,” Madrid said.
Digital identity, for instance, can simplify onboarding and reduce fraud if systems are trusted, reusable, privacy-protecting and interoperable.
Open Finance could also expand consumer choice by allowing customers greater control over their financial data, provided clear standards govern consent, security, liability and portability.
Keeping services sustainable
Affordability will remain crucial to expanding financial inclusion, but Madrid said it should be balanced with transparency, reliability, security and consumer choice.
Providing digital financial services requires continuous spending on cybersecurity, fraud prevention, settlement, customer support, compliance, system resilience and product development.
“Consumers should have access to affordable and transparent services, but affordability does not mean every provider must arrive at the same price,” Madrid said.
Financial institutions operate under different licenses, business models and cost structures, he noted. Competition and efficient shared infrastructure, rather than uniform pricing, can help improve value for consumers while preserving incentives for innovation.
Rules for the next phase
Regulation will also play a central role in determining whether ASEAN can sustain investment as its digital financial ecosystem expands.
Madrid said rules should establish clear outcomes, be proportionate in their implementation and remain predictable over time.
While common principles are needed to protect consumers, regulatory frameworks should also recognize differences in institutions’ licenses, permitted activities, balance-sheet obligations and prudential requirements.
“Clear and predictable regulation supports consumer trust while giving institutions the confidence to continue investing and innovating,” Madrid said.
Room to compete
Consumer protection and innovation, he added, do not have to work against each other.
“A progressive regulatory environment sets strong standards and clear outcomes, then gives institutions room to innovate and compete within those guardrails,” Madrid said.
As payments and financial services become increasingly interconnected across Southeast Asia, the next step will be making the systems supporting them equally capable of crossing borders.
“Payments and financial services are already becoming more connected across ASEAN,” Madrid said. “The next step is making sure trust, identity, data, and consumer protection can move with them.”
For the region, that could mark a shift in how financial inclusion is measured—from the number of people who gain access to financial services to how effectively that access improves their financial resilience. —Ed: Corrie S. Narisma
