An executive of Voyager Innovations, the digital innovations unit of PLDT and Smart Communications Inc., was recognized as one of the Top 100 Asian Fintech Leaders during the Fintech Finals 2016 in Hong Kong.
Fintech, or short for financial technology, refers to new solutions that reshape or disrupt the financial services industry. FF16, a leading fintech conference in the region is organized by Next Bank, an independent, open and collaborative community that aims to drive change for the better in financial services through design, innovation and entrepreneurship.
Lito Villanueva, vice president and head of fintech, digital inclusion and alliances at Voyager Innovations, was the first and only Filipino named in the prestigious list that included leaders in banking, finance, startups, investment and tech industries.
The list included the likes of MasterCard chief executive Ajay Banga, Tencent chief executive Pony Ma, Visa innovations executive Matt Dill and Alibaba chief finance officer Maggie Wu.
The list also included chief executives from leading Asian players such as Apple Pay, Google, China UnionPay, Temasek Holdings Singapore, KPMG, ICICI Bank of India, DBS Bank of Singapore and ANZ Bank of Australia.
Aside from Villanueva, USAID chief of party for e-Peso project John Owens, Salarium chief executive Judah Hirsch and Lenddo chief executive Richard Eldridge represented the Philippines in the list.
In a statement released prior to the conference, Rob Findlay, co-founder of NextBank and FF16, said that “most global fintech lists are too US or Europe centric.”
“We thought it was time to change that. There are recognized leaders from every corner of the region that we know are doing great work,” Findlays said.
“We’ve scoured the region and our network for those people currently making a huge dent in the industry – transforming their bank, or building a new disruptive customer experience; investing in the best new FinTech ideas or bringing people together. Whatever they do, they have the passion, drive and vision to make Asia the most exciting FinTech region on the planet,” said Findlay who collated the list along with Markus Gnirck, co-founder and chief operating officer at Startup Bootcamp Fintech.
“We selected the people we admired, and that represent the many pockets and facets of the industry – not just the most senior bankers, and not just the rockstar startups. Given the pace of growth of fintech in the region, these people have been instrumental in both their pioneering work and ongoing thought leadership,” said Findlay.
In the announcement and listing at the FF16 site, Villanueva was cited for leading Voyager’s suite of award-winning and innovative fintech products and services covering a variety of industries, sectors and segments.
These sectors include “digital micro-insurance, micro-savings, electronic lending for micro, small and medium enterprises, employees from both government and private sector, international remittance, G2P [government to person] and D2P [donor to person] cash grant disbursements from international humanitarian aid agencies, mobile banking for cooperatives and micro-finance institutions, even ant-fraud security solution and contactless payment products.”
Villanueva was also recognized for partnering with “a host of stakeholders such as local and global financial institutions and global development agencies,” including the most recent ones with Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines, Chamber of Thrift Banks and universal banks for the digital consumers loans marketplace, Lendr, the first of its kind fintech service in the Philippines.
“We’re extremely proud that one of our own has been named as one of the best leaders in the fintech space in Asia. We appreciate this recognition and we reaffirm our commitment in further enabling our business and development partners while focusing on empowering people and communities through customer-centric and demand-driven digital technologies, not just in the Philippines but in key growth and emerging markets as well,” said Manuel Pangilinan, chairman of PLDT, Smart and Voyager Innovations.
Voyager Innovations counts fintech as among its important areas for innovations, creating platforms and services for emerging market economies starting with the Philippines.
Among its fintech services are Lendr, the country’s first online consumer loans marketplace; LockByMobile, the world’s first mobile based security solution for financial institutions; Charge2Phone (C2P), the country’s first sticker-based Near Field Communication payment solution for face-to-face and online transactions; Mobile Loan Saver, the country’s fully paperless and electronic salary loan service with the country’s premier state bank Land Bank of the Philippines; and Smart (Standardized Monitoring Assessment and Reporting of Transfers System) for electronic disbursements of cash grants of government and humanitarian agencies to beneficiaries, with automated monitoring and evaluation component.
