CIMB Bank Philippines has earned dual recognition at The Asian Banker Philippine Awards 2026, securing the titles for “Best Embedded Finance Initiative” and “Best Digital Payments Initiative” in the country.
The accolades highlight the digital-only commercial bank’s role in advancing financial inclusion by integrating services into everyday digital ecosystems.
The Asian Banker cited CIMB Bank PH as a leading benchmark for customer-centric innovation, noting how strategic platform partnerships continue to accelerate digital banking adoption across the archipelago.
Pioneering embedded banking
IMAGE CREDIT: CIMB Bank
Since launching its local operations in 2018, CIMB Bank PH became the first financial institution to introduce an embedded finance architecture in the Philippines. Rather than relying solely on a standalone app, the bank integrated its savings, credit, and lending products directly into platforms heavily utilized by Filipino consumers, including Visa, GCash, Lazada, Shopee, Atome, and DragonFi.
This integration allows users to open high-yield savings accounts, access credit lines, and complete transactions without leaving their primary digital environments. The model has since served as a blueprint for ecosystem-led digital banking across the local sector.
Alongside its embedded finance honors, the bank’s in-app payment solution, CIMB Pay, was named the Best Digital Payments Initiative. The feature allows users to perform QR code payments at over one million merchants nationwide, execute zero-fee fund transfers, and settle utility bills directly through their CIMB savings or REVI credit accounts.
To boost consumer adoption of cashless transactions, CIMB Pay has regularly partnered with major retail and quick-service restaurant brands, including McDonald’s, Bench, and Shakey’s, to offer integrated cashback promotions.
Driving mass adoption
CIMB Bank PH executives Dianne Sagaya (Head of Tech Delivery), Jensen Putra (Head of Lending Products), and Geraldine Austria (Head of Mobile App) together with representatives from The Asian Banker.
“Since we started operating in the Philippines, every product and service that we offer Filipinos has been guided by our purpose of advancing customer and society,” said Vijay Manoharan, CEO of CIMB Bank PH. “We make a conscious effort to be present where our customers need us the most and challenge the norm of how banking has traditionally been done in the country.”
The latest awards bring CIMB Bank PH’s total international recognitions to 170. Currently serving over 10.6 million customers and 3 million lending clients, the digital bank remains a major driver of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) push toward a cash-lite economy.
