In the Philippines, open finance has become a buzzword in fintech conferences, regulatory discussions, and industry newsletters. Banks and fintech startups alike highlight APIs, data portability, and interoperability as the next frontier.
Yet, for most users, the experience remains largely invisible. Even apps that claim open finance capabilities often provide little tangible evidence of data sharing beyond basic account aggregation.
Despite this, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has launched the Open Finance PH Pilot, a voluntary initiative exploring secure, API-driven financial data sharing between banks and fintechs (IFC, 2023).
This raises a question that has persisted for years: if open finance is supposedly here, why does it still feel more like a vision than a lived reality?
What open finance is supposed to enable
At its core, open finance is about enabling secure, consent-driven sharing of financial data across institutions. According to the BSP, this allows financial institutions and third-party providers to offer services while giving consumers more control over their information (BSP, 2023). Ideally, it enables smarter lending, budget management, cross-platform insights, and other products that respond to real needs.
In practice, however, the Philippine experience is more muted. APIs exist, but adoption is uneven, standards are fragmented, and many promised integrations are either slow to materialize or restricted to pilot programs. Even among apps participating in the BSP pilot, the seamless data portability that open finance promises remains largely invisible to users (BWorld Online, 2023).
Regulatory support exists — but it stops short of enforcement
The BSP has expressed support for open finance through consultations, innovation frameworks, and sandbox initiatives. These efforts signal recognition of the importance of interoperable systems. Participation in the Open Finance PH Pilot, governed by Circular No. 1122, is voluntary, and there are few mechanisms to compel banks or fintechs to share data in a standardized way (BSP, 2023).
The result is a system where experimentation is allowed, but widespread interoperability remains limited. Institutions can test integrations and collaborate, but without regulatory mandates, progress is patchy and inconsistent.
API adoption — Progress without momentum
APIs are the backbone of open finance, but in the Philippines, adoption has been uneven.
Larger banks often maintain proprietary systems, exposing only limited endpoints for third-party integration. Meanwhile, fintechs frequently rely on workarounds such as screen scraping or bilateral partnerships to access financial data.
Even when fintechs actively participate — for example, Xendit serving as both API provider and user in the BSP pilot — most progress happens behind the scenes (BWorld Online, 2023). Users rarely experience the seamless interoperability that open finance promises. This gap underscores the uneven progress of open finance in the country.
Why Data Sharing Remains Limited
The barriers to open finance in the Philippines go beyond technical challenges. Incentives are misaligned: banks carry most of the operational and compliance risk, while fintechs capture much of the potential upside from data-driven products. Trust deficits, legacy infrastructure, and cautious risk management further slow adoption.
Regulators can encourage experimentation, but without stronger alignment of incentives, open finance will remain patchy, largely invisible to consumers, and limited to narrow use cases. Initiatives like the Open Finance PH Hackathon show that collaboration is happening, but mostly at a prototyping and experimental level (BSP, 2024).
Quiet Progress — But Mostly Out of Sight
Despite these challenges, open finance is not entirely absent. Pilot programs and selective integrations demonstrate that progress is being made — albeit quietly. Most advancements happen in B2B contexts, with little visibility for everyday consumers. The broader strategic push also includes frameworks extending open finance to pensions, investments, and other products, signaling that the BSP envisions a more interconnected financial ecosystem (Manila Bulletin, 2025).
The question is whether these incremental steps will eventually translate into meaningful, consumer-facing utility, or remain isolated experiments.
Conclusion: From Policy Vision to Everyday Utility
Open finance in the Philippines occupies a space between aspiration and execution. Regulatory frameworks exist, pilot programs are underway, and APIs are gradually being adopted — but tangible benefits for consumers remain limited.
For open finance to move from a vision to a practical tool, stakeholders will need to align incentives, standardize systems, and deliver visible value to users. Until then, it will remain more discussed than experienced — a promising concept still in search of its everyday relevance.
