Sea's MariBank Lost S$55.6M in 2025 as It Expands Abroad

In the Philippines, MariBank is piloting cash-in and cash-out services with retail partners, adapting to a market where physical cash remains dominant. Goh said the bank uses Sea's e-commerce data to underwrite loans in a market with limited credit history.

MariBank received a capital injection from Sea to support its expansion. Goh's goal is to build a regional digital banking group from Singapore, using the city-state's financial infrastructure as a base.

The expansion push follows a MariBank survey that found one in three Singaporean business owners use personal bank accounts for company banking to avoid transaction fees. The bank offers a zero-fee business account to address the gap.