7-Eleven in the Philippines Expands into Financial Services

7-Eleven is turning its convenience stores in the Philippines into financial service points. Philippine Seven Corp. aims to improve credit access by functioning as a front end for traditional banks.

Jose Victor Paterno, President and CEO at Philippine Seven Corp., stated at the Retail Asia Summit 2025 in Manila in March, “What exactly can’t we do that a bank branch can do? We can’t do high-net-worth relationship management, but storing money, receiving deposits, cashing cheques — we can do all that.”

The company intends to address the issue of financial accessibility. It is particularly for Filipinos who lack access to traditional banking services, according to the chief executive.

With only six million Filipinos holding credit cards, Paterno explained that 7-Eleven is encouraging credit access by acting as an intermediary for banks. The company earns fees for loan approvals rather than lending directly.

7-Eleven’s payment volume averages PHP 20 billion a month, which is five times its retail sales. However, the heavy reliance on cash presented logistical problems, especially during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic when bank closures disrupted payment services.

To address this, the company introduced recycling ATMs. These machines accept and dispense cash, reducing the need for frequent armoured car pickups. Japan’s Seven Bank also made the same move where they established ATMs in 7-Eleven stores across Malaysia.

Paterno noted, “The nice thing about payments is the traffic it drives, but we have even more traffic from the ATMs than we do from payments.”

The company is also using its database of 35 million users to assist digital lenders in pre-approving customers based on their transaction history.

“Our data is unique not just because of its size — we have permission to contact and permission to use. That’s what makes it unique,” Paterno highlighted.

Philippine Seven is also exploring credit scoring models using alternative data sources, such as ATM withdrawal patterns. Customers who use their ATMs can potentially build their credit scores based on their financial habits, aiming for a more inclusive financial system.

A key aspect is face-to-face KYC (Know Your Customer) checks. Paterno mentioned that while online-only lenders have reported high bad loan ratios, those using in-person verification saw a significant decrease. “We think face-to-face KYC via our stores will be even more powerful.”

With 87 million Filipinos possessing national IDs, 7-Eleven anticipates that financial inclusion will progress. “The hard part was done two years ago. Printing is the most trivial thing,” he pointed out.

7-Eleven is currently trialling its credit facilitation model with selected digital vendors and plans to expand it.

“We’re telling the digital world, you can look forward to this, but you have to get to 5,000 loans per day at least, and we’re thinking maybe we’ll direct it to a few stores in the beginning,” Paterno stated.

Featured image credit: Edited from Freepik.