Neobank Tonik announced on Monday that it received a digital banking license from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

Tonik said that the license will allow it to be the country’s first private, entirely digital bank after its public launch last March.

The digital bank has secured over P1 billion in retail deposits since its launch, which it claims is a record for any new bank in the Philippines.

Tonik recently announced that it had received Pre-Series B funding, cementing its status as one of Southeast Asia’s most well-funded fintechs.

“Securing a digital banking license is one of this year’s anticipated milestones for us,” Greg Krasnov, Tonik chief executive officer and founder, remarked. “This will help us further strengthen our foothold in the neobanking space through accelerating the roll out of our additional lending and payment products.”

Tonik got its first rural bank license from the BSP in December 2019, allowing the neobank to offer retail banking services such as retail deposits, card payments, and consumer loans. Tonik was able to scale up and seek for a full digital bank license once the BSP issued Circular No. 1105 on The Guidelines on the Establishment of Digital Banks a year later.

“We are truly privileged to be working with a regulator such as the BSP who shares the same vision of bolstering financial inclusion in the country,” Long Pineda, country president at Tonik, said. “An official digital bank license will enable us to offer more products and services to narrow the gap between the banked population and the huge underserved segment in the Philippines.”

Tonik said it is on a mission to change the way money works by introducing a new all-digital banking system that operates on a highly secure platform. The neobank provides accessible, flexible, and inclusive financial services, such as industry-leading deposit interest rates of up to 6 percent per year and unique saving tools like Solo Stash and Group Stash, as well as term deposits.