Tonik, Southeast Asia’s first digital-only bank, formally launches as the the first neobank in the Philippines.
Tonik enables its customers to “Save Big and Dream Bigger” with industry-leading deposit interest rates of up to 6% p.a. To make saving more relevant, fun, and social, Tonik offers unique Stash and Group Stash features, as well as traditional Term Deposits.
But who is Tonik and what is a NeoBank?
Here are 5 things you should know about this new financial entity:
1. WHAT IS A NEOBANK?
A neobank is a kind of digital bank without any branches. Rather than being physically present at a specific location, neobanking is entirely online. Neobanks can be called fintech firms that provide digital and mobile-first financial solutions payments and money transfers, money lending, and more.
2. WHO IS TONIK?
Tonik is the first neobank in the Philippines. They are supervised by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) with deposits insured by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC). The coronavirus pandemic evolved the way consumers interact with their banks, expediting the shift to digital banking. This makes Tonik’s entry into the market relevant with its all-digital banking proposition for the #NeoNormal, especially for younger ‘digital natives’ for whom digital wallets/banking mobile apps have quickly become the main payment method for goods and services.
3. Is my money safe with Tonik?
Yes, Tonik is supervised by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and your money is insured by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) up to a maximum of P500,000 per depositor. This means that all your money with Tonik (in your Savings Account, your Stashes and your Time Deposit) are insured up to P500,000 per depositor by PDIC.
At the heart of the fully digital Tonik neobanking experience is a highly secure digital banking platform that guarantees the safety and security of customer transactions. the highest protection against malware, ensuring the safety and privacy of customer data against any type of breach. User account security is protected against fraud by the DAON server-based face check security feature. This ensures that no one can access a customer’s account by feigning his identity in case the account owner’s mobile phone is lost or stolen, even if the face ID is changed.
4. WHO CAN REGISTER AS TONIK USER?
Any Filipino who is at least 18 years old, residing in the Philippines and has a valid Philippine mobile number, and email address, and not a person subject to United States’ FATCA.
5. WHAT SERVICES DOES TONIK OFFER?
Tonik’s offers several Key Products
● Time deposit – Tonik’s time deposit earns as much as 6% per annum. Tonik customers can set the starting amount to their time deposits for as low as P 5,000. They can open up to 5 time deposit accounts within their savings account. Tonik does not charge early withdrawal fees or penalties.
● Savings Account – This is the primary savings account given to all customers who register and pass through our Know-Your-Customer (KYC) process. Funds will automatically earn an interest rate of 1% per annum and paid out on a monthly basis.
● Stashes
○ Solo – To allow consumers to save-up towards specific goals, Tonik offers focused saving through the Solo Stash product, a feature that allows money allocated to a particular savings goal to be separated into a different compartment. The Solo Stash can earn as much as 4% in interest per annum and funds can be withdrawn any time they are needed without a locked period.
○ Group – Because Filipinos are culturally social and communal, Tonik offers a unique saving feature called the Group Stash, inspired by a homegrown Filipino saving scheme – the “paluwagan” system. Using Tonik’s Group Stash, at least three people, including the stash owner, can put in money in their shared stash and earn as much as 4.5% interest per annum as they save for a particular goal together.
To those interested to open a Tonik account, you can do it in under 5 minutes, using only the Tonik App, an ID and a selfie. Tonik account can be easily topped up in many convenient ways, including interbank, debit card, or in cash at close to 10,000 retail agents across the country. Immediately upon onboarding, the customer is issued a virtual Mastercard debit card that can be used at a variety of e-merchants. The product offer will soon be expanded to include a physical debit card or take out an all-digital consumer loan.
“We started Tonik because we were fed up with how traditional banks mistreat their customers. The fact that 70% of the Filipinos remain unbanked shows that the tedious onboarding process of traditional banks and their ridiculously low interest rates do nothing to satisfy the needs of the consumers. We believe that banking should be easy, fun, and – like most services these days – right there, in the palm of your hand. We are using world-class technology to dramatically cut operating costs, which allows us to offer game-changing interest rates and not to charge unfair fees to our customers,” explains Tonik Founder & CEO Greg Krasnov.
“Sadly, traditional banks have completely forgotten how to listen to their customer. So, we are on a quest to become the first bank brand in the Philippines with a sense of humor and an actual personality that consumers can relate to. Our mission is to trigger a wave of #NeoBankingRomance in the Philippines. We expect our proposition for the #NeoNormal to resonate particularly strongly with the ‘digital natives’ in the Philippines, who constitute most of the population,” says Long Pineda, President of Tonik Digital Bank, Inc, Tonik’s regulated bank subsidiary in the Philippines.
Although aiming for a friendly and humorous personality, one of the things Tonik takes extremely seriously is the security of the client’s funds and transactions on its systems. Tonik is the first bank in the Philippines certified as compliant with PCIDSS, the global “gold standard” in payment card security. Tonik’s systems are also certified by CISA, the top authority in global IT security audits. Client’s access is protected by the highest level of safety through server-based biometrics, while all passwords and OTPs are subject to military-grade encryption.
Learn more about Tonik and what it offers via http://tonikbank.com.
