The Philippines’ largest fintech industry group is backing the proposal by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to transfer regulatory oversight of lending and financing companies to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

Lito Villanueva, FinTech Alliance PH founding chairman, said the group supports the realignment to create a more unified regulatory landscape.

“We support that. It was only the SEC informing the BSP regarding this particular regulatory oversight to be given to the central bank,” Villanueva said, stressing that the move is a logical realignment of regulatory powers.

Villanueva noted that even the interest-setting authority is with the BSP.

This development comes at a period when discussions are already underway to reopen the market for new digital lenders. “In fact, we have had discussions regarding the lifting of the moratorium on issuing online lending platform (OLP) licenses, and it is good that they are very open to that,” he said.

According to Villanueva, the fintech group is working closely with regulators to establish stricter entry barriers.

“We are also part of the discussions in crafting the regulations, especially in setting the capitalization requirements for potential OLPs, to ensure that only serious and capital-adequate players will be part of the ecosystem—those who are truly committed to scaling their operations,” Villanueva said.

This push for a more unified regulatory framework mirrors global standards and could signal a broader trend toward a single financial watchdog.

“There is even a pending bill right now. Even the Insurance Commission (IC) is also looking into having it under the BSP because in other jurisdictions, the regulatory body is centralized. There is an umbrella regulator. This limits potential regulatory arbitrage,” he explained.

Additionally, Villanueva said the industry anticipates significant operational benefits from the consolidation.

“Compliance would definitely be more seamless, and it would be more advantageous for players, because they often say compliance is very costly. So in this case, it would be more streamlined and much clearer in terms of policies. I think it would be much better for the entire industry in general,” Villanueva noted.

This strong backing from the fintech industry comes as the digital banking sector shows signs of maturity, with Villanueva noting that three of the six licensed digital lenders are now profitable.

FinTech Alliance PH is shifting its strategic focus from aggressive customer acquisition to usage and retention to meet its 80/80 vision of 80 percent digital account ownership and 80 percent active usage by 2028.