A digital Tonik for the Philippines’ unbanked woes

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Hello reader,

As a skeptic, I can sometimes be a wet blanket when it comes to the goings-on in the startup world. As an industry, we tend to keep looking for that next game-changing tech or the next visionary founder, sometimes without stopping to analyze and think about whether the new hotness is really all it’s being made out to be.

To paraphrase a quote from BoJack Horseman, when you’ve got rose-tinted glasses on, all the red flags just look like flags.

Of course, I don’t mean to be an utter pessimist. I just think it’s more convincing when people have balanced views and speak honestly about the opportunities and challenges of a given industry or market.

Today’s premium article features digital bank Tonik’s CEO Greg Krasnov sharing his views on the Philippine market, and his tone certainly makes me more invested than I would be otherwise.

Today we look at:

• Insights on BNPL, crypto, and the Philippines’ banking industry at large from Tonik’s CEO
• A mobility-focused impact fund gets a US$4.3 million injection
• Other newsy highlights such as Apple’s retail foray into Malaysia and the US$12 million series B of an Indonesian point-of-sale startup

Premium summary

I’m a gin and tonic guy myself

Image credit: Timmy Loen

I recently read the autobiographies of two retired European footballers, Gary Neville and Andrea Pirlo. Although I liked them as players, I didn’t like their books. They had a lot of “tunnel vision” opinions and suggestions that failed to take the larger world or context into consideration, making them sound like selfish, ignorant prats at times.

That said, those books were published in the early-2010s, so maybe they’re more well-rounded individuals now. I enjoy watching Neville’s interviews on his YouTube channel, so I’d like to think he’s got a better grasp of content now.

I didn’t have such gripes when reading today’s premium article. Tonik’s Krasnov comes across as knowledgeable and straight-talking about the banking industry.

• Not a fan of BNPL: Krasnov’s beef with BNPL goes beyond its unsustainable business model. More than the need to charge interest rates, Tonik’s CEO takes issue with how many firms fail to report metrics such as their loan portfolio and, consequently, how they calculate credit risk and unit profitability.
• Crypto on pause: In March 2022, the neobank teased a crypto feature that it planned to introduce into its app. However, attitudes toward crypto have shifted in recent months amid the spectacular fall of prominent players such as FTX, which led Tonik to put those plans on hold.
• The Philippine market at large: In a country where an estimated 34.3 million of 77.2 million Filipino adults are unbanked, Krasnov believes that digital banks will chip away at the market share of incumbent banks – in the retail segment, at least.

I’d be plenty mobile if I had US$4.3 million

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