By Bankero
Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) executive vice president Lito Villanueva urged the next generation of financial technology leaders to put people and financial inclusion at the center of innovation, saying technological advances must ultimately address the everyday needs of consumers.
Villanueva, who is also RCBC’s Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer and founding chairman of FinTech Alliance.PH, delivered the message to students of the Asian Institute of Management’s Master of Science in Financial Technology program during the “FinTech Frontiers: Philippines in Focus – Advancing Financial Inclusion through Risk & Regulation” forum.
“We are living through one of the most transformative periods in financial services history. If there’s one piece of advice I can leave you with, it is this: When faced with uncertainty, complexity, or difficult decisions, go back to the pulse,” Villanueva said.
He described the “pulse” as a deep understanding of people’s needs, aspirations and everyday challenges.
Pointing to the country’s digital finance progress, Villanueva said digital transactions now account for 57.4% of total retail payments in the Philippines, while more than half of the country’s adult population now has access to formal financial services.
He said those gains also position the Philippines to play a bigger role in regional digital integration as it prepares to assume the ASEAN chairmanship and advance negotiations on the proposed ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA).
The proposed agreement aims to strengthen digital connectivity across Southeast Asia’s 670 million people and support a regional digital economy projected to reach $2 trillion by 2030.
Villanueva said sustaining that momentum would require stronger cybersecurity, highlighting industry initiatives such as the Fraud Intelligence Data Sharing Network, powered by CIBI Information Inc., and partnerships with the government’s Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center.
“As technology continues to evolve, the responsibility of fintech leaders also grows. Innovation must not only be faster and smarter, it must also be secure, inclusive, and meaningful,” Villanueva said.
RCBC is the Philippines’ fifth-largest privately owned commercial bank and a member of the Yuchengco Group of Companies.
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