Salmon
“Can a vertically integrated, ex-Tinkoff-led challenger bank — owning both the lending platform and a BSP rural bank license — win the underbanked Filipino consumer credit market?”
Founded in 2022 by three ex-Tinkoff executives who left the Russian digital bank to build a consumer fintech for underbanked Filipinos. Started with point-of-sale installment lending (Product Loan) through merchant partners, then vertically integrated by acquiring a BSP-licensed rural bank in 2024 — pivoting from a pure financing company into a full-stack challenger bank offering deposits, credit lines, motorcycle loans, and time deposits. The strategic bet is that owning the banking license (rather than partnering with a BaaS provider) creates a durable cost-of-funds advantage in a market where 50%+ of customers are unbanked.