Tonik launches physical Debit Cards with high-security features

By Leandra Monteiro

Tonik, the Philippines’ first private neobank operating under its own digital bank license by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), has launched the physical debit cards for clients of its mobile app. Tonik customers can now order physical debit cards through the app, and use these cards at any ATM or merchant that is part of Mastercard’s global network, which includes most of the ATMs and card-accepting merchants in the Philippines.

In line with Tonik’s philosophy of maximizing customer’s access to their money, Tonik debit cards offer the highest possible transaction limit in the market of up to Php450,000. However, it does encourage its clients to keep limits low to reduce risk, and only increase the limits for specific high-ticket transactions, and subsequently reducing them back to a lower level to keep their accounts well-protected.

“Filipino consumers increasingly prefer the convenience of physical debit cards for their daily transactions. However, the security of card payments remains their primary concern,” shared Greg Krasnov, Founder and CEO of Tonik. “Our physical debit cards are specifically designed to offer a highly secure payment experience.  We hope this will help the Philippines continue on its rapid path of transition towards a cashless society and will help drive higher financial inclusion in the country.”

Tonik made its commercial debut to the Philippine market last March, which saw it secure over Php1B (US$20M) in retail deposits in under 1 month – a historic record for any new bank launching in the country. The neobank continued to break records of speed of growth, having attracted ca. 3.5 billion pesos (US$70M) in retail deposits as of mid-August.

Tonik is supervised by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and deposits are insured by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC). Its cloud-based solution is powered by global financial technology leaders such as Mastercard, Amazon Web Services, and Finastra.