Plans for the Launch of Philippines Fintech Sandbox Are Underway

The two Philippines fintech groups, Fintech Alliance.PH and Fintech Philippines Association, announce plans to collaborate on the launch of the Philippines Fintech Industry Sandbox which is supported by the UK Prosperity Fund ASEAN Economic Reform Programme (ASEAN ERP). The initiative was announced during the World Fintech Festival which is a satellite event at the Singapore Fintech Festival 2020. 

The sandbox initiative was inspired by the UK Innovate Finance’s Industry Sandbox Consultative Report and is envisioned to provide the fintech ecosystem in the Philippines with access to resources such as data, APIs, or reference architectures which enable entrepreneurs to create solutions that are additive and more readily integrated with their existing technology stack.

It will also help address complex problem solving by facilitating industry collaboration on identifying and addressing complex shared consumer, technological and regulatory challenges. Lastly, the initiative aims to improve regulatory efficiency by encouraging regulators to engage as observers where industry can share knowledge early in the life cycle of solution development.

This initiative also includes close coordination with key stakeholders including the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Insurance Commission (IC), and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to support the establishment of the industry sandbox in order to trial new fintech-enabled solutions in an environment that includes a broader range of players including startups, banks and other financial players, consumers, and other stakeholders from the industry.

In conducting research on industry sandbox models, the two fintech groups with support from the ASEAN ERP also analysed the ASEAN Financial Innovation Network’s (AFIN) API Exchange (APIX) which they agreed to host the sandbox. AFIN recently announced that it has included the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) among its four new members.

APIX is a cross-border, open architecture API marketplace and sandbox platform for collaboration between fintechs and financial institutions in which participants can integrate and test solutions with each other via the platform’s cloud-based architecture.

Lito Villanueva, Chairman of the FintechAlliance.PH said,

Lito Villanueva
Lito Villanueva

“The Fintech Alliance.ph looks forward to the realisation of the industry sandbox initiative that would benefit all stakeholders in the digital space. This would promote greater collaboration and support towards sustainable innovations encouraging more players to participate ensuring consumer protection and regulatory compliance.”

Dr J Antonio Ortiz, Chairman, Fintech Philippines Association said,

Dr J Antonio Ortiz, Chairman, Fintech Philippines Association
Dr J Antonio Ortiz

“As one of the leading proponents of innovation for the fintech industry in the country, Fintech Philippines Association is pleased to be a part of this initiative supported by the ASEAN ERP. With this initiative we can truly tech up the country, one industry, one entrepreneur, one person at a time.”

The initiative will be closely coordinated with the BSP to ensure appropriate security for all APIs, appropriate compliance guidance, and will be free for all small and medium size developers.

The sandbox will support the plans of the BSP to foster the development of innovative financial services that aim for greater financial transparency and consumer protection by giving customers better control over their personal data and improved access to financial products even beyond financial institution-owned channels under a new Open Finance framework.

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