FinVolution Group, an SME-focused financial technology (fintech) firm that entered the local card-based lending market through Luvit Card, is aiming for profitability by 2029, a deferred timeline as the company ramps up spending on consumer awareness and research and development.

Luvit Card, a collaboration between FinVolution and Mastercard, marks the fintech’s expansion into card-based lending in the Philippines. The product offers both virtual and physical cards that allow users to make installment-based purchases across Mastercard’s global merchant network.

Francisco Roberto Mauricio, chief executive officer (CEO) of cash lender WeFund, a subsidiary of FinVolution, said that while the business could become profitable earlier, the company is prioritizing long-term market presence.

“We have to ramp up,” Mauricio told reporters following the product launch on Wednesday, May 6. “I think we will be profitable in about three years.”

He noted that achieving immediate returns would require compromising growth in other areas.

“We can become profitable within a year if we cut back on spending for awareness, R&D, user experience improvements, and technology enhancements—but we don’t want to do that,” Mauricio said.

Mauricio explained that the launch of Luvit Card aims to address the massive gap in financial inclusion.

“We want people to have a credit footprint. There are over 20 million Filipino adults with no credit history, meaning they are credit-invisible. If you are credit-invisible, how can you borrow, or access insurance and other financial services? So we want to help build that credit footprint,” he said.

By targeting young professionals and those just starting their careers, the company aims to offer a flexible payment tool for individuals often rejected by traditional financial institutions. “If we are too strict, it’s like we are anti-poor or anti-opportunity,” he said.

FinVolution is leveraging its proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline approvals, requiring only one valid ID to process an application in roughly one and a half minutes.

According to Mauricio, the system is fully processed by AI, which evaluates over 1,000 data points per customer. This includes unique behavioral tracking, such as how long a user takes to fill out a form field.

Currently, interest rates range from as low as three percent to a maximum of eight percent, with loan limits starting at ₱2,000 and reaching up to ₱200,000. Under the dynamic pricing feature, better borrowers receive improved terms over time.

Despite the broader criteria for entry, the company maintains a strict risk appetite, stating that non-performing loans (NPLs) should remain in the single digits.

For its first year of operations, FinVolution is aiming to acquire fewer than one million users, noting that the service already has tens of thousands of users from initial testing. While the virtual card is available nationwide, delivery of physical cards is currently focused on Luzon.