By Ashley Erika O. Jose, Reporter
GLOBE Fintech Innovations, Inc. (Mynt), the operator of GCash, has secured approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its stock split, a development seen as a key step toward its planned initial public offering (IPO).
The SEC’s approval allows Mynt to increase its common shares to 71.66 billion, at three centavos each, while keeping its authorized capital stock at P2.15 billion, Globe said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday. A stock split increases the number of shares without changing the company’s overall capitalization, effectively making each share more affordable and improving liquidity.
“We think the stock split was done in preparation for the planned IPO of GCash. A stock split is a common practice for firms planning to list publicly,” Unicapital Securities Equity Research Analyst Peter Louise D.C. Garnace said in a Viber message to BusinessWorld.
In June, Ayala Corp. announced that Mynt’s board and shareholders had approved the stock split to raise the number of its common shares ahead of its planned IPO. Mynt is a strategic partnership among Globe, Ayala Corp., and Ant International, a Singapore-headquartered firm engaged in digital payments and financial technology.
Globalinks Securities and Stocks, Inc. Head of Sales Trading Toby Allan C. Arce said the SEC’s approval indicates that Mynt is actively preparing for its stock market debut. “A stock split like this typically precedes an IPO, aligning the company’s structure with public market norms and suggesting that regulatory and valuation groundwork is well underway,” he said.
“Such affordability is especially relevant for GCash, given its massive user base, and will allow more retail investors to participate once the company lists publicly,” he added.
He noted that Globe and Ayala appear to be timing the restructuring to position GCash for favorable market conditions, reflecting management confidence in investor demand for its shares.
“It is a strategic signal that GCash’s IPO plans are accelerating. The restructuring of its capital base shows clear intent to unlock value and increase accessibility ahead of what could become one of Southeast Asia’s most significant fintech listings,” Mr. Arce said.
According to Mr. Arce, if market conditions remain stable, an IPO in early 2026 appears increasingly probable as Globe and Ayala continue working to bring GCash to the public market.
Globe President and Chief Executive Officer Ernest L. Cu earlier told BusinessWorld’s One-on-One interview series that GCash remains focused on growth, emphasizing its efforts to expand its user base and promote financial inclusion. In April, Globe said the IPO could take place later this year or in 2026.
GCash currently has 94 million registered users across at least 16 markets, including the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, and Taiwan.
Separately on Tuesday, the Department of Information and Communications Technology’s Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) said the alleged data leak involving G-Xchange, Inc., operator of GCash, did not originate from the company’s systems.
“Further examination also shows that the datasets in question do not originate from GCash’s systems. These findings suggest that there has been no recent compromise of GCash’s infrastructure,” the CICC said, adding that GCash has expressed openness to system checks by the agency.
This followed GCash’s statement that its systems remain secure after a forensic investigation found no breach despite reports that user data were being sold on the dark web. The CICC said it continues to trace the possible individuals or groups behind the reported exposure.
“Investigative efforts are ongoing to verify the origin of the uploaded data and establish any link to previous cyber incidents,” the CICC said. “All findings will be coordinated with the appropriate authorities as part of due process and in accordance with existing cybercrime investigation protocols.”
On Monday, GCash said its initial findings showed that the alleged dataset did not match the structure used in its systems and contained entries from individuals who are not GCash users, many of which were “incomplete, inconsistent, or invalid.”