Luvit launches push for financial inclusion

A new financial technology platform is betting that millions of Filipinos excluded from traditional banking represent one of the country’s biggest untapped markets, as Luvit formally launched its digital credit service aimed at expanding access to flexible payments.

At the Luvit media launch on Wednesday, 6 May at the Discovery Suites, Pasig City, executives behind the platform positioned Luvit not just as another artificial intelligence-driven fintech product, but as a broader financial inclusion initiative targeting Filipinos who struggle to qualify for conventional credit cards.

“We want to have a card, an access card. A card that gives us the flexibility to pay. But sometimes it’s just so hard. You ask for a lot of documents,” said Francisco “Coco” Mauricio, president and chief executive officer of WeFund Lending Corporation.

He noted that access to formal credit remains limited across the country despite strong consumer demand for borrowing and digital payment tools.

“About more than 90 percent of Filipinos don’t have a financial card, whether virtually or physically, to have flexible payment terms,” he said.

Mauricio argued that the strict requirements imposed by traditional lenders continue to leave many Filipinos outside the financial system.

“Traditional financial institutions are very strict. And I can understand why they’re very strict. They really want to limit the risk. Almost zero risk,” he said.

“But for us, if we’re too strict, it’s like we’re anti-poor or anti-opportunity. Because everyone deserves a chance.”

The executive said Luvit seeks to provide users with a way to build their financial footprint while giving underserved borrowers access to payment flexibility often reserved for higher-income consumers.

The platform is backed by WeFund and affiliated with Finvolution Group, which Mauricio said has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange since 2017.

He said the company’s push for financial inclusion was also shaped by his own family’s experience with limited access to credit while growing up in Mindanao.

Mauricio recalled that his grandparents, who were farmers in Kidapawan, struggled to secure financing for fertilizer because they lacked land titles accepted by lenders.

“At one point they wanted money to actually buy fertilizers for the land that we have. But no one wanted to loan out money because they didn’t have the title to the land,” he said.

The experience, he added, exposed him early to the consequences of financial exclusion.

“For one crop season, we practically didn’t eat a lot of good food. Let’s put it that way. Bagoong with rice, tinapa with rice,” Mauricio said.

“And I think from then on, that was my advocacy personally. I didn’t want to let any Pinoy experience what I actually personally went through.”

The company said Luvit forms part of a broader effort to widen financial participation among Filipinos who remain underserved by banks and formal lenders, particularly those lacking traditional income or identity documentation.

“Everyone deserves to have financial access. Because financial access leads to financial freedom, which leads to financial empowerment,” Mauricio said.