the Outsider - PSE Points to Ponder

  The financial-technology company generated ₱43.3 billion in first-half revenue and an estimated ₱5.1 billion dividend for its shareholders as preparations for a public offering advanced. Mynt Inc., the company behind the GCash mobile wallet, continued to expand rapidly in the first half of 2026. But its latest figures contained a cautionary signal: More revenue did not translate into more profit. Mynt generated ₱43.3 billion in revenue during the six months ended June, an increase of about 10 percent from ₱39.2 billion a year earlier, according to the quarterly report of Globe Telecom, one of Mynt’s principal shareholders. Net income, however, slipped about 2 percent to ₱10.8 billion , from ₱11 billion. The divergence suggests that Mynt’s costs, investments and other charges grew faster than its top line, although Globe’s filing did not provide a detailed breakdown of Mynt’s expenses. The result portrays a company that is still growing at a substantial pace, but whose expansion...

  Ayala-backed Mynt and SM-controlled BDO Unibank, Inc. are two very different machines for turning Filipino credit demand into profit. One earns fat fintech spreads. The other survives on scale, funding discipline and clean loans. Call it the new arithmetic of Philippine finance. On one side is Mynt, the GCash parent in which Ayala Corporation increased exposure through AC Ventures Holding Corp., helping push Mynt’s valuation to about US$5 billion before the planned IPO. On the other hand is BDO Unibank, Inc., the country’s largest bank and the crown jewel of the SM financial ecosystem, with SM Investments Corporation disclosed as BDO’s largest common shareholder at 40.60% as of end-2025.  At first glance, the comparison looks unfair. BDO Unibank, Inc. is a universal bank with about ₱3.8 trillion in gross customer loans in the first quarter of 2026. Mynt’s CreditTech loan portfolio was only about ₱64.1 billion as of March 31, 2026. BDO is the aircraft carrier; Mynt’s lend...

  When Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group bought into Mynt , the parent of GCash, the Japanese banking giant was not merely buying a slice of a Philippine fintech. It was buying a second chance at a familiar thesis: that a well-capitalized Japanese lender can ride the rise of consumer finance in one of Southeast Asia’s most underbanked, mobile-first economies. The price was not small. MUFG’s investment gave it an 8% direct stake in Mynt , valuing the GCash operator at about US$5 billion , more than double Mynt’s previous US$2 billion valuation from its 2021 round. Reports put MUFG’s investment at roughly US$393 million to US$400 million , or about ₱23.3 billion .  The question is whether this GCash bet will age better than MUFG’s earlier Philippine bank wager. In 2016, MUFG, then through The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ , invested ₱36.9 billion in Security Bank Corporation , buying 150.7 million newly issued common shares at ₱245 each and 200 million preferred shares at ₱0.10 ...

  Mynt’s public-market debut is being billed as an IPO. But with far more secondary shares than primary shares on offer, the transaction is also a carefully timed monetization event for the financial investors that backed GCash before it became a Philippine fintech giant. In the language of capital markets, Mynt’s planned listing is an IPO. In substance, it is something more nuanced. The company behind GCash is offering up to 1.605 billion primary shares , but existing shareholders are offering up to 6.422 billion secondary shares , plus an overallotment option of up to 1.204 billion additional secondary shares . At the top-end offer price of ₱10.00 per share , Mynt expects to receive only about ₱14.95 billion in net proceeds from the primary shares, while the selling shareholders could receive up to ₱74.30 billion in net proceeds if the overallotment option is fully exercised. Mynt itself will not receive any proceeds from the secondary or option shares. That makes the “IPO” lab...

The primary share sale will give Mynt nearly ₱15 billion in fresh capital. The message from the prospectus is clear: payments built GCash, but lending, product expansion, liquidity, and optionality are where the next chapter will be funded. Mynt’s planned public listing is not just a liquidity event for its shareholders. It is also a capital-raising exercise for the company behind GCash, though only a smaller portion of the offering will actually land on Mynt’s balance sheet. The preliminary prospectus lays out an offer of up to 1.605 billion Primary Shares to be issued by Mynt, alongside a much larger block of 6.422 billion Secondary Shares to be sold by existing shareholders. At the indicative offer price of up to ₱10.00 per share , Mynt estimates net proceeds from the Primary Shares of up to ₱14.95 billion , after fees and expenses. The company will not receive proceeds from the sale of Secondary Shares or Option Shares.  That distinction matters. The IPO may be marketed as a ...

  GCash’s vast user base, merchant network, and brand ubiquity still form one of the strongest fintech moats in the Philippines. Yet after Payment Solutions' revenue reached ₱50.3 billion in 2025, Q1 2026 showed slowing momentum, exposing the limits of scale in a regulated, low-take-rate payments business. For years, the genius of GCash was that it made money move before it made money itself. A sari-sari store owner could accept a QR code. A daughter in Cebu could receive cash from Manila. A worker could pay a bill, buy load, cash out, send ₱500, or settle dinner without touching a bank branch. Each tiny movement looked mundane. Together, they became one of the biggest pools of transaction value in Philippine finance: ₱17.0 trillion of Payment Solutions GTV in 2025 , up from ₱9.8 trillion in 2023 . That payments machine is still Mynt’s largest business. In 2025, Payment Solutions Adjusted Revenues reached ₱50.3 billion , accounting for 63.2% of Mynt’s total Adjusted Revenues . But ...