(Updated 10:04 a.m.; Aug. 4, 2023) Online wallet and payment service Maya, formerly Paymaya, has clinched this year’s Best Digital Bank award for Southeast Asia at the World Digital Bank (WDB) Awards for its recent app developments.
With this recognition, the-all-in-one banking app has now become the eighth best global bank, the business news website The Digital Banker, which organizes the WDB Awards, said. It joined the ranks of renowned institutions such as the London-based Starling Bank, South Korea-based Kokoabank and Europe-based Revolut.
WDB hailed the digital bank’s recent rebranding that provides a seamless, all-in-one banking experience for users, as the app hosts numerous services like e-wallet for daily transactions, virtual and physical cards, cryptocurrency, savings with daily interest and instant credit.
“It’s one of the best examples of how digital banks are reimagining the digital process to drive customer interaction and usage,” The Digital Banker wrote in its citation.
In a statement, Maya Bank president Angelo Madrid said that the award marks a “vote of confidence.”
“We’ve broken industry records with our game-changing innovations as we rapidly scale our digital banking services across our comprehensive consumer and enterprise ecosystem,” he said.
“The recognition is a welcome vote of confidence, and we thank our customers and partners for the continuous trust,” he added.
Maya’s recent efforts have been paying off as it has become the among the highest-rated local finance apps on Google Play and Apple Store.
As of end-June this year, the finance app has over 2.3 million deposit accounts with nearly P25 billion in deposit balance. Cumulative loan disbursements reached P10 billion in the same period while on invite-access mode.
“We’re honored to receive this distinction as it’s a testament to our world-class team’s hard work and talent,” Shailesh Baidwan, Maya Group president and co-founder of the financial app, said in a release.
“It also highlights the Philippines as an incubator of top fintech and digital banking companies,” she added.
In April, consumer credit service Digido reported that Filipinos consume more than 4.4 million hours using e-wallet apps like Maya, GCash and Coins.ph, according to a report of Philstar.com.
The COVID-19 pandemic pushed more than 58 million users to use e-wallet apps for cashless transactions, with at least one user visiting an app 16 times monthly on average, according to Digido.
From December 2018 to December 2022, Digido said unique downloads among e-wallet apps skyrocketed by 632%, up by 99 million, with 30.5% increase or 26.7 million recorded just in 2022 alone. —Intern, Eduelle Jan Macababbad
