Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) reinforced its role in shaping the Philippines’ digital finance landscape through active participation in the Money20/20 Asia PH Summit, one of the region’s leading fintech gatherings.
Lito Villanueva, RCBC’s Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer, represented the bank in two high-level panel discussions that examined both the strategic direction of financial services in the Asia-Pacific region and the operational challenges of expanding access to underserved communities.
In the opening panel, “Key Fintech Trends 2026 in the Philippines and the APAC Region: The Future of Money,” Villanueva joined industry leaders in a forward-looking discussion on the evolution of fintech, digital payments, and platform-based financial services across the Philippines and the wider Asia-Pacific region. Anchored on the 2026 Fintech Trends Whitepaper, the panel emphasized the interplay of technology, regulation, and collaboration in shaping the next phase of financial transformation. The session was moderated by Danny Levy of Money20/20 Asia.
Villanueva also contributed to the panel “Offline-First Fintech for Zero-Connectivity Environments,” which tackled a persistent barrier to financial inclusion in emerging markets: limited or unreliable internet connectivity. Panelists discussed practical solutions, including agent banking, branch-lite models, and hybrid digital-physical infrastructures designed to serve rural households, farmers, and micro-entrepreneurs. The discussion underscored the importance of designing financial systems that remain accessible even in low-infrastructure environments.
The panel featured diverse perspectives from both the private sector and regulatory authorities, including Arianne Ferrer, External Affairs Director of Tala, and Melchor Plabasan, Senior Director of the Technology Risk and Innovation Supervision Department at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. Namita Kinjawadekar, Content Lead of Money20/20 Asia, moderated the session.