2-M Filipinos seek digital lending — Digido

Our recent analysis of select digital lending services is a clear indication that responsible credit services continue to be an effective means of breaching inequality in accessing financial tools

One in every 30 adult Filipinos accessing financial services online in the Philippines spent 75,305 hours using digital lending applications last year, a new report from consumer credit service Digido showed Monday.

This means that more than 2 million Filipinos, or 3.2 percent of the Philippine adult population aged 18 and over, access the services of the ten digital lending platforms at least once a month

Digido’s analysis of ten digital lending platforms operating in the Philippines that have applications, including Digido, in both the Apple App Store and Google Play revealed that these companies have a combined total of 14.2 million downloads as of December 2022.

This represents 3.4 percent of the total downloads from finance categories across all devices and all platforms, a 2.2 percent increase compared to November 2022 (+307 thousand) and a 35.2 percent increase compared to December 2021 (+3.7 million).

Breaching inequality

“Our recent analysis of select digital lending services is a clear indication that responsible credit services continue to be an effective means of breaching inequality in accessing financial tools,” Digido country manager Farit Shakirov said.

“We encourage the wider segment to continue promoting responsible lending,” Shakirov added.

The average monthly duration of the use of these apps ended at 12 minutes and 46 seconds while the duration of one session per user was at one minute and 14 seconds.

Businesses become active

Significant bursts of user login activity in 2022 occurred in March, July, and November, mainly due to the positive dynamics of certain platforms working with small and medium-sized businesses, which account for approximately 36 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

The possible reasons behind these surges include ongoing promotions, favorable conditions, or the launch of specialized loan products for entrepreneurs.

Digido also noted that MSMEs are still heavily underfunded and limited in their ability to continuously grow and develop, which only increases the potential for the penetration of digital lending platforms.