GCash operator Mynt will deploy 60 percent of its primary IPO proceeds into consumer lending, targeting the informal loan market across the Philippines.
The digital wallet counts 41.5 million monthly active users, but only 7.5 million borrow through its platform. Converting the remaining 34 million registered users into active credit customers forms the central growth pitch to equity investors ahead of listing.
Mynt runs its credit operations through Fuse Financing, offering micro-credit products like GLoan Sakto for sums as low as 100 pesos and Borrow Load for 20 pesos. More than 90 percent of the user base falls within the lower C2DE socio-economic brackets, where daily cash flow needs mirror sachet retail buying habits. Frost & Sullivan data compiled for the listing shows roughly 40 percent of borrowing Filipino adults relied on informal credit in 2025, including unregulated 5-6 money lenders who demand 20 percent nominal interest rates on short-term advances.
Sachet credit replaces street lenders
Digital wallets across Southeast Asia have shifted from simple payment rails to balance-sheet lending to offset margin compression on transfers and merchant settlements. Singapore-based Grab, Indonesia’s GoTo and regional digital banks all pursued similar transitions, yet few command the domestic user dominance GCash holds in its home market. By pushing loan sizes down to 100 pesos, Fuse Financing mirrors the Philippine retail distribution model of selling daily goods in small packets.
This micro-lending model shifts customer acquisition costs almost to zero because borrowers already transact on the core app. Traditional Philippine banks struggle to service sub-1,000-peso tickets profitably due to branch overheads and manual underwriting costs. GCash automates that screening using its proprietary GScore credit assessment and an automated voice bot called GINA to manage collection calls.
Rising share of digital lending revenue
Lending generated 28.52 billion pesos in 2025 after expanding at a two-year compound annual rate of 67.1 percent. That performance lifted credit from 35.8 percent of adjusted revenue in 2025 to 41.8 percent during the first half of 2026. Payments generated 50.34 billion pesos, or 63.2 percent of 2025 revenue, but lending expansion now drives top-line momentum as total loan assets hit 70.5 billion pesos in June 2026.
“There’s money in serving them,”
Mynt president and chief executive Martha Sazon told investors at an October 6 briefing, pointing to unbanked consumer segments as the primary engine for the next growth cycle.
Credit loss provisions and default risks
Rapid loan book expansion brings balance sheet volatility. The company booked 12.62 billion pesos in provisions for credit losses in 2025, absorbing 44.3 percent of its lending revenue that year. First-half 2026 provisions reached another 7.93 billion pesos.
Non-performing loans stood at 4.9 percent in June 2026, falling from 7.5 percent in 2025 and 9.2 percent in 2023. Fuse Financing chief executive Tony Isidro told brokers he remains comfortable holding delinquent loans within single-digit bands while migrating borrowers away from informal street lenders. Managing those defaults will dictate whether lending remains an earnings generator or becomes a capital drag as net income growth slowed to 7.3 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2026.
Premium valuation on the trading floor
The company priced its initial public offering at 6.60 pesos per share, implying an equity valuation of roughly 442 billion pesos. That prices Mynt at 25.7 times its 2025 net earnings, commanding a premium over global peers such as PayPal and Brazil’s Nu Holdings. Institutional demand oversubscribed the offer during the retail bookbuild.
Market participants will test that valuation when shares begin secondary trading on Tuesday, October 20 under the ticker symbol GCASH.
