More Filipinos may now have more access to financing after Wednesday’s launch of the Open Finance PH, a consent-driven data portability, interoperability, and collaborative team-up among financial entities.

In his speech during the event, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Felipe Medalla said with the open finance system, “we are taking a big step towards unlocking equal access to financial services for all Filipinos and building a cyber resilient and open digital economy.”

“Enabled by strong partnerships, it’s time for all of us to embody responsible innovation, become leaders in the new era of finance, and write a new playbook for the banking system and the rest of the financial sector – one that truly won’t leave anyone behind,” he said.

The open finance system is supported by the International Finance Corp. (IFC) and the World Bank (WB).

It is targeted to help unbanked Filipinos, especially those who lack the necessary documents, build a financial profile and credit history and eventually access loans and other services previously inaccessible to them.

Under this system, individuals need to agree first for their data to be shared among financial institutions.

Medalla said the official registration to the Open Finance PH Pilot began Wednesday, which will function with the help of the IFC and will apprise the development of open financial technical and operations standards and arrangements.

He said the pilot is a voluntary activity among financial institutions to co-develop an open, inter-operable, and scalable ecosystem and is the next phase of the implementation of the Revised Open Finance Roadmap 2023-2027. (PNA)