MariBank Officially Reclassified as Digital Bank by BSP

MANILA, Philippines – MariBank has officially become a licensed digital bank after the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) approved its reclassification from a rural bank, formalizing a business model that had already been operating almost entirely through digital channels. For existing customers, however, little changes. Customers do not need to take any action following the reclassification. (READ: [Finterest] Is a digital bank safe, and how can you best use it?) MariBank said clients can continue using the app and services as before, with deposits of up to P1 million remaining insured by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC). The bank also remains under BSP supervision. The change is largely regulatory. Before securing its digital banking license, MariBank operated under a rural bank license while offering app-based banking products nationwide. As a rural bank, it had to operate a physical banking presence in Laguna. With the new digital license, Maribank may operate without branches that offer banking services, though it must still maintain a head office in the country. MariBank can also now officially market itself as a digital bank. “MariBank has been an early supporter of the Bangko Sentral’s digital payments agenda, having been among the first financial institutions to offer free fund transfers. Now, as a fully operational digital bank, I am confident that MariBank will deliver an even stronger value proposition, driving innovation and competition while benefiting both consumers and the broader banking industry,” BSP Deputy Governor Mamerto Tangonan said in a statement. MariBank is the Philippine banking arm of Singapore-based MariBank, which belongs to Sea Limited, the technology group behind e-commerce platform Shopee. The company rebranded from SeaBank Philippines to MariBank in 2025. One feature that helped MariBank stand out in its early years was its unlimited free fund transfers, which came well before many larger banks droped their transfer fees. That advantage has since narrowed in recent weeks after the BSP pushed banks to drop their transfer fees. Must Read Banks are dropping transfer fees. Here’s why it took so long. But perhaps counterintuitively, Lim said the shift has actually eased one of the costs of being an early mover. “When we were one of the few banks offering unlimited free transfers, we attracted customers making hundreds of transactions, and subsidizing that became expensive,” he said in a LinkedIn post. Now that more banks have adopted free transfers and switch costs have fallen, heavy transaction volumes are spread across more institutions. Lim said MariBank no longer had to absorb outsized transfer costs simply to remain competitive. The country’s digital banks now include Maya Bank, GoTyme Bank, Tonik Digital Bank, UNO Digital Bank, UnionDigital Bank, Overseas Filipino Bank, and MariBank. – Rappler.com