Take the case of Maya, the digital payments platform and digital bank rolled into one, which had long been a drag on earnings for its biggest shareholder, PLDT. It reached a point where PLDT chair and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan’s frustration was spilling into the open.
“It’s been disappointing for Maya. I sat down with shareholders of Maya [and said] that we have to do something about their performance. So that round of discussion has started,” Pangilinan told reporters last August.
Maya turnaround
Then, the company achieved its first-ever profit in December, thanks to its fast-growing lending business, Maya Bank.
The sentiment shifted rapidly, especially within the leadership of PLDT, which owns close to 40 percent of Maya.
“This may be PLDT’s most exciting business,” Pangilinan said in the recently released annual report of First Pacific Co. Ltd., the Hong Kong-listed firm of Indonesian tycoon Anthoni Salim, which owns major stakes in PLDT, Metro Pacific Investments, and Philex Mining.
“Maya reached profitability in the last month of the year with its market-dominating offerings leading to a surge in bank depositors, balances and loans disbursed,” added Pangilinan, who sits as managing director and CEO of First Pacific.
GCash challenger
Long seen as playing catch-up to Globe Telecom-backed GCash, Maya is finally carving out its own space, with its digital bank taking the lead.
Narrowing losses for most of 2024 and a profitable month helped it cut losses attributed to PLDT to P1 billion, down from P2.2 billion in 2023, according to First Pacific.
Apart from PLDT and First Pacific, Maya’s shareholders include KKR (38 percent), Tencent (15 percent), and International Finance Corp. (10 percent).
Profit momentum continues in the first quarter
Maya also reported a profit for the first three months of 2025.
Maya Bank, chaired by Al Panlilio, disbursed nearly P28 billion in loans in the first quarter, pushing total disbursed loans to P120 billion and raising its loan-to-deposit ratio to 51.1 percent.
It also retained its spot as the Philippines’ top digital bank by deposit balance, closing the quarter with P43.6 billion, which was about twice that of its closest rival.
“We are proud to deliver strong growth across all our products, continued scaling of our integrated ecosystem, and achieving net income profitability in [first quarter] 2025,” Shailesh Baidwan, Maya Group president and Maya Bank co-founder, said in a recent statement.
PLDT may raise its stake
Pangilinan earlier expressed his interest in raising PLDT’s stake in Maya, amid reports that some shareholders may be looking to sell out.
“We would be buyers, depending on how much it costs,” he said.
Future IPO?
Could the firm eventually list via an initial public offering? It’s a realistic possibility, but insiders said they’d still like to see the profit track record hold.
Speaking of valuations, Maya is not far behind GCash as the country’s second official unicorn, or a startup valued at least $1 billion.
Abacus Securities’ research head Nicky Franco projected last January that Maya is worth $3 billion to $3.5 billion, or about double its $1.4 billion valuation three years ago.
Miguel R. Camus has been a reporter covering various domestic business topics since 2009.
