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Banking

Daily intelligence on the Banking beat

Saturday, October 17, 2026

Issue #113

GCash Parent Prices Record $966M IPO as Lenders Push Offers

GCash's parent company priced a record $966-million Philippine initial public offering while banks and consumer lenders spent the same day pushing installment, card and deposit offers. Reddit users raised unanswered questions about document requests, payment posting and a one-time password read into a bank's phone system.

By the MMI Banking Desk

GCash Parent Prices Record $966M IPO as Lenders Push Offers

The largest share sale ever mounted on the Philippine market was priced on October 16, and it barely made a sound on social media. A post reporting that the parent company of GCash — the mobile wallet used by tens of millions of Filipinos — had priced its initial public offering at a record $966 million drew 2,202 views and 3 likes on X. An initial public offering, or IPO, is the first sale of a company's shares to the public; at $966 million it is the biggest such sale ever completed on the local exchange, which makes it the single most consequential financial event in the material reviewed here. The muted response is the day's most telling detail: the biggest capital-markets event of the year generated less visible public reaction than a single complaint about a bank asking for paperwork three times.

That complaint came from a freelancer on Reddit, who wrote that RCBC Pulz had requested additional documents three times and asked, "is this normal or is RCBC fcking with me?" The same day, BusinessMirror published an article addressed directly to freelancers and virtual assistants, promoting how RCBC Pulz's hold-and-convert feature lets them "maximize every dollar". The bank was marketing to the same segment that was publicly complaining about its onboarding process, on the same day, with no public response to either. A second Reddit thread that day drew four comments about RCBC Wealth Management, the bank's private banking arm, asking what products it offers and whether it recommends only the bank's own.

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More Banking

GCash Parent Mynt Prices Record IPO at P6.60

Mynt Inc., the parent of mobile wallet GCash, closed an oversubscribed offer period for the Philippines' largest-ever share sale ahead of an October 20 listing, while the peso closed at a record low of P63.06 to the dollar and a study showed cash-on-delivery still accounts for about 23 percent of Philippine e-commerce value.

Duterte Trial Narrows to Unexplained Wealth as Banks Testify

The House prosecution dropped three of four impeachment articles against Vice President Sara Duterte, leaving a single unexplained-wealth charge as representatives of eight major banks were called to testify. Separately, GCash parent Mynt closed an oversubscribed initial public offering priced at ₱6.60 a share.

Sara Duterte Trial Narrows to P817M Wealth Case

The Senate impeachment court dropped three of four charges against Vice President Sara Duterte, leaving an unexplained-wealth case built on P817.87 million in allegedly undeclared assets. The same day, Mynt's GCash initial public offering closed oversubscribed ahead of an October 20 listing.

Mynt IPO Oversubscribed; Duterte Wealth Hits P1.5B

Mynt Inc.'s initial public offering closed with broker allocations oversubscribed up to four times, while a forensic analyst told the Senate impeachment court that Vice President Sara Duterte's alleged undeclared wealth could reach P1.5 billion.