MANILA, Philippines – PLDT-backed digital bank Maya is set to break even in 2024 and is on track to be profitable by 2025, as it attracted more depositors and grew its loan disbursements.

In 2023, Maya’s total depositors stood at 3 million, 2.1x more year-on-year, while depositor balance was at P25 billion, a 1.7x improvement. Meanwhile, cumulative loans disbursed reached P22 billion, which is 6.9x more compared to the same period a year ago.

“We already have created that dent by providing a solution, an alternative for the many Filipinos who are unbanked, underbanked, and unhappily banked,” Maya chief executive officer and founder Orlando Vea said in a recent briefing.

On the enterprise side, Maya reported that it currently has 44% of the total market share of QRPH processing and is the largest merchant acquirer.

PLDT chairman and CEO Manny Pangilinan said the board was “quite pleased” with the subsidiary’s performance in the first two months of 2024.

Without specifying numbers, Pangilinan said Segment EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) at the operating level “turned positive.”

“There’s still the overhead, the debt to be taken into account, but the good news is, while it’s negative, it’s half of the EBITDA loss consolidated compared to last year. Even the net loss is more than half reduced. The cash burn is also more than half,” he said.

Pangilinan added that Maya has been able to attract significant deposits, but noted that the lending side of the business needs to grow more.

“I think the problem is not always the deposits, but the lending side. It’s the asset side of the balance sheet, that they have to push their loans. Because, I mean, banks are supposed to lend,” he said.

The Inquirer recently quoted Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Director Melchor Plabasan as saying that only two of the six digital banks in the country were profitable. – Rappler.com