MANILA (UPDATE) - PLDT Chairman Manny Pangilinan said the service interruption issues of GCash last month have helped boost Maya, the e-wallet and digital bank operated by PLDT's fintech arm.

At the sidelines of the PLDT Annual Stockhokders' Meeting, Pangilinan said Maya has become more attractive following the incident when GCash suspended operations due to reported phishing affecting some accounts.

"I think the recent events that happened to GCash have made Maya more attractive," Pangilinan said.

Though he didn't give details as to how Maya benefitted from the issues that hounded the Ayala-led fintech, Pangilinan said the company may raise an additional $100 million to $150 million in funding for Maya's expansion.

PLDT later clarified that Pangilinan was not giving any forecast or guidance on the funding requirements of Maya.

"He was merely expressing his personal opinion on possible fundraising activities of Maya.," PLDT said.

Meanwhile, Pangilinan however also said it will take time for Maya to beat GCash, which has over 80 million users.

Maya will offer new products, particularly loans, to expand its reach, he said.

"Their [Maya] problem has really been addressing their loan book, albeit they've been increasing their loan disbursements in recent months. So it's expected by yearend, they should be EBITDA positive actually, the bank as a whole," he said.

PLDT President Al Panlilio added, "They're whooshing very hard on deposits and also loans, loan book. They're coming out with SME offerings also, so think to strengthen the bank first is I think the objective."

Panlilio also said that they intend to take Maya public, but they need to improve the fundamentals of the bank first.

In a separate disclosure to the stock exchange on Thursday, PLDT clarified that Panlilio was "merely expressing his personal opinion" on the potential IPO.

"He was merely conveying his personal aspiration for Maya to eventually list its shares with the PSE once the bank’s fundamentals have improved," PLDT said.

Meanwhile, Pangilinan believed it will take 2 to 3 years more for Maya to contribute to the growth of PLDT.

"So it's just a question of time, to produce profits enough to compensate for the losses flowing from the digital wallet because GCash is way ahead of Paymaya," Pangilinan said.

"I think in the next two to three years, I think we should be okay. I think it will be led, the recovery will be led by the enterprise part of the business-- merchant acquiring and by the bank," he added.

Pangilinan said Maya Bank deposits grew from P14.7 billion end of 2022 to about P26 billion in April.

• GCash says 'no funds lost' despite system glitch
• No breach in GCash despite unauthorized transactions, says privacy watchdog