MAYA Philippines, Inc. is looking to launch a Personal Equity Retirement Account (PERA) product and is already in talks with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on the plan.
“We’re speaking to the BSP about it. As you know, the BSP is quite keen to have more financial institutions roll out PERA. So, we’re in that stage of conversation,” Kristoffer Rada, head of corporate affairs at Maya Group, said on the sidelines of an event last week.
He added that they are in the testing stage via their platform.
Maya is also looking for the right institution to partner with for PERA onboarding, Mr. Rada said.
“I understand there is a big chunk of providers on this side. Now we’re doing the same thing — testing and making sure that everything is consistent with the platform that we have.”
This is also in line with the central bank’s push to promote PERA, Mr. Rada said.
“For us, from a policy standpoint, we’re aligned with the BSP and we want to support them there. Of course, subject to the product and the IT teams syncing the PERA optionality into our core platforms.”
Maya Philippines is one of the participating institutions for the BSP’s Open Finance for PERA Pilot launched last year, which leverages the regulator’s Open Finance framework that allows for secure sharing of customers’ financial data across institutions.
Other institutions included in the pilot program are Land Bank of the Philippines, Metropolitan Bank & Trust Corp., Philippine National Bank, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., Union Bank of the Philippines, and G-Xchange, Inc., the operator of GCash.
Meanwhile, the PERA Administrators are ATRAM Trust Corp.; BDO Unibank, Inc.; and BPI Wealth – A Trust Corp.
Through the program, Filipinos can open PERA accounts by logging into their selected provider’s platform and consenting to bank or e-wallet know-your-customer data sharing, eliminating the need for manual forms or ID verification.
PERA, created under Republic Act No. 9505 in 2016, is a voluntary retirement saving program which supplements benefits from the Social Security System, Government Service Insurance System, and employer-provided plans.
Maya Group or Maya Innovations Holdings, Pte. Ltd. is the parent of Maya Philippines and Maya Bank, Inc.
Maya Philippines is registered with the BSP as an electronic money issuer, remittance and transfer company, operator of payment system, and virtual asset services provider. Meanwhile, Maya Bank is one of the six BSP-licensed digital banks in the country.
PLDT, Inc. said in August that the Maya Group remained profitable in the second quarter, supporting its core income.
Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., holds a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — A.M.C. Sy