.png){kind=logo}
1 week ago
12
Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!
Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.
Visit Suniway.ph to learn
Philstar.com
January 7, 2026 | 10:27am
SINGAPORE — The Asia FinTech Alliance (AFA), a coalition of leading fintech associations across 15 Asian economies, has appointed Lito Villanueva as its global ambassador, strengthening the Alliance’s mission to accelerate cross-border fintech collaboration, innovation, and responsible growth across the region.
Villanueva is executive vice president and chief innovation and inclusion officer of Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) and founding chairman of FinTech Alliance PH. AFA’s members span the Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Nepal, Myanmar, India, and Sri Lanka, and work closely with regulators and financial institutions to advance regional fintech integration.
Under Villanueva’s leadership, RCBC has emerged as the Philippines’ leading digital challenger bank, earning Euromoney’s Best Bank for Digital in the Philippines for six consecutive years, a first in Asia. He has also scaled flagship platforms Pulz, DiskarTech and ATM Go, each delivering industry firsts in digital onboarding, financial inclusion, and alternative cash access.
Pulz is the first private-bank digital app in the country to enable Filipinos worldwide to open accounts using any international mobile number and a single valid ID, and enable the creation of US virtual accounts.
DiskarTech became the subject of a landmark study by Mastercard, the first such fintech case study in Asia Pacific and only the second globally after Nubank of Brazil, demonstrating the power of sustainable finance and inclusion at scale. It was also the first to allow SSS members to create their MySSS all-in-one Mastercard Debit ID catd powered by RCBC DiskarTech.
ATM Go pioneered Southeast Asia’s first manual cash withdrawal service capable of recognizing both Visa and Mastercard debit cards.
As founding chairman of FinTech Alliance PH, Villanueva has helped institutionalize industry collaboration through the Manila Tech Summit, the Philippine Pavilion at the Singapore FinTech Festival, and the nationwide “Wag Magpaloko, Maging Scam Alerto” campaign, the 2028 Digital Finance Industry Roadmap, and the 80 x 80 by 2028 agenda to bank 80 percent of adult Filipinos, digitize 80 percent of retail payments, and help create six million jobs.
Central to Villanueva’s policy advocacy is strengthening trust and resilience in digital finance. He has been a leading voice for industry-led fraud data intelligence sharing to enable real-time detection and prevention of financial crime, and for the establishment of a secure, interoperable eKYC registry to reduce onboarding friction, lower compliance costs, and improve risk management while upholding data privacy and consumer protection.
A respected thought leader, Villanueva writes a regular fintech column, “Bytes,” for The STAR and has authored numerous publications on fintech, digital banking, and digital transformation. He completed two graduate degrees with distinction, a Master in Public Administration magna cum laude from the University of Santo Tomas, and a Master in National Security Administration from the National Defense College of the Philippines, where he remains the youngest graduate to date. He has also undertaken executive programs in Digital by Design at Cambridge Judge Business School and Core Banking at University of Oxford, United Kingdom.
Villanueva’s contributions have earned him multiple recognitions, including Asia Trailblazer of the Year 2025 by the Retail Banker International Asia Trailblazer Awards, the Digital Management Excellence Award by BizNews Asia, PeopleAsia Men Who Matter 2025, and NewInAsia Top 10 Voices You Should Follow in the Philippines.
His appointment was formally announced during the AFA monthly meeting and comes at a pivotal moment as the Philippines prepares to assume the ASEAN Chairmanship in 2026.
“I am deeply honored and humbled to accept the appointment as Global Ambassador of the Asia FinTech Alliance,” Villanueva said. “This is a timely opportunity to deepen regional cooperation and amplify Asia’s voice in the global fintech landscape. I look forward to working closely with our member associations and global partners to help build a more connected, trusted, and globally engaged Asian fintech ecosystem.”
Beyond AFA, Villanueva serves in leadership and advisory roles across regional and global platforms, including as Co-Founder of AFA, Founding Chairman of the Alliance of Digital Finance and FinTech Associations, Permanent Council Member of the ASEAN Fintech Forum, Founding Council Member of the Asia Pacific Financial Services Congress, and member of the ASEAN CXO Association, advancing policy dialogue, ecosystem building, and inclusive digital finance.
