Building trust, one loan at a time

MANILA, Philippines — For Fuse Financing president and CEO Tony Isidro, the journey into formal credit began at home. When he was 10, Isidro helped tend his grandmother’s sari-sari store in Marikina, where he witnessed — and came to know by heart — a familiar scene: his grandmother’s loyal customers, or suki, as they’re known in Filipino, would stop by, pick out what they needed and ask to have their purchases “palista,” or recorded on credit, Isidro recalls.

Looking back, Isidro says those childhood experiences taught him one of his earliest lessons in financial literacy: borrowing is fundamentally built on trust.

“Borrowing money is deeply personal because it usually comes at a time when people need support the most,” Isidro tells The STAR.

Isidro brought that lesson with him when he joined Fuse Financing, the lending arm of e-wallet giant GCash, five years ago. Since then, he has led the company in pursuing its vision of providing fair, accessible digital loans that help create a better everyday life for Filipinos.

‘Borrowing with dignity’

Palista is just one of the many ways Filipinos turn to credit when cash is tight, particularly when formal borrowing is not within easy reach.

Another widely used form of informal lending is the so-called “5-6” loan. The term 5-6 has long been associated with informal moneylenders who typically charge a 20-percent interest rate — borrow P5 and repay P6, hence the name. Others, simply turn to relatives or friends when they need quick cash to make ends meet.

Isidro says such practices persist partly because traditional financial institutions have often left Filipinos feeling “excluded and overwhelmed” by the requirements of borrowing through formal channels.

“The challenge we face at Fuse is: how do you replicate that intimate, neighborhood-level trust at scale?” he says.

Fuse aims to bridge that gap by making formal credit more accessible while giving borrowers an experience rooted in dignity and respect.

“Borrowing with dignity means ensuring that every touchpoint across the customer’s entire journey — from the moment they secure their loan to the way they repay — is respectful, fair and empowering,” Isidro says.

“True financial inclusion is not just about giving people access to credit — it’s about treating them with respect every step of the way,” he adds.

Measuring, building trust

At Fuse, dignity starts with a score.

The firm developed its technology-driven trust score called GScore, which measures a customer’s credit score based on their footprint within the GCash ecosystem. Through such a mechanism, Isidro points out, they can “extend fair, respectful and accessible” credit to Filipinos.

The GScore helps unbanked Filipinos build a digital financial identity since some of the persisting challenges they face are the absence of formal financial records, collateral or traditional credit histories.

Fuse also extends dignity in how it handles collections. Isidro emphasizes that the firm has a zero tolerance policy on abusive collections and harassment.

The firm has begun using artificial intelligence to monitor call interactions between its agents and customers to ensure that every conversation remains “respectful, fair and strictly within regulatory guidelines.”

Isidro explains that technology provides Fuse with the necessary speed and scale to attract and serve its clientele, which has been growing consistently in recent years.

“The biggest lesson I’ve learned in the past five years is that financial inclusion isn’t just about technology — it’s fundamentally about trust,” Isidro, a management engineering graduate, says.

“True, long-term success comes from understanding our customers deeply and building products that responsibly solve their daily pain points,” he adds.

At present, Fuse’s products involve GCredit, a flexible credit line for users; GGives, an option to turn purchases into installment terms and GLoan for instant cash needs.

For the first quarter, Fuse has lent some P406 billion to 11.1 million unique users, 85 percent of whom are first-time users of formal credit.

The milestone, Isidro points out, highlights the sheer volume of Filipinos they have helped to steer away from informal, predatory “5-6” lenders and onboard into the formal credit ecosystem.

“While we’ve made meaningful progress, we admittedly still have a long way to go in closing the country’s credit and financial inclusion gap,” Isidro says.

“However, we remain optimistic that through our responsible credit solutions, we can bring more Filipinos into a safer, fully regulated formal credit ecosystem,” he adds.

Stories that move

What keeps Isidro going are the stories behind every loan approved — the ordinary Filipinos whose lives have been changed by access to formal credit.

Among them is Sheila Gomez, a lawyer from Iloilo, who said GLoan became a reliable source of financial support while she was in law school.

Another is Juvy Camante, a 55-year-old sari-sari store owner from Pateros, who relied on GLoan to keep her business afloat and support its daily operations.

And that mindset of prioritizing customers is something that has been cultivated into Isidro’s leadership values when he was still in the consumer goods industry, which he says is “extremely relevant” in the financial technology space.

“That deep understanding of mass-market consumers is what allows us to create financial tools that are intuitive, accessible and meaningful, even for first-time borrowers,” Isidro says.

Nothing reflects Fuse’s customer-first approach better than the launch of GLoan Sakto in 2024, a nano-loan product that Isidro calls his favorite. Designed for borrowers with small, immediate financing needs, it lets users borrow as little as P100 with no paperwork, zero interest, a minimal processing fee and a 14-day repayment term.

Isidro aptly describes it as “sachet loans,” reflecting the sachet culture of Filipinos or buying things in small portions.

The product, Isidro says, has worked and has become a pantawid, or bridge, for Filipinos to meet their daily needs between paydays. These customers, he adds, have usually been tagged as “high risk” by traditional lenders, excluding them from the formal system and forcing them to rely on predatory loan sharks.

“Especially during challenging economic conditions, many users appreciate having access to small-ticket loans that help them address immediate needs while also helping them build their credit profile over time,” he says.

The road ahead

Isidro shares that Filipinos’ understanding of digital credit products continues to improve, describing it as “an ongoing journey.” That is why, he adds, continuous education remains crucial.

“People need clear guidance on how to use credit to build financial health rather than falling into debt traps or turning to unregulated, predatory lenders out of desperation,” he says, noting that they recently partnered with the Securities and Exchange Commission on a nationwide financial literacy campaign.

Some of the areas where Fuse sees massive opportunities in the next few years include refining its GScore technology, partnering with mission-aligned organizations like the Asian Development Bank, expanding ecosystem and merchant partnerships, and doubling down on consumer education, Isidro says.

“We need to continually refine our technology and data models so we can offer tailored, industry-specific financing that is fair, transparent and built to help businesses and everyday Filipinos grow and seize opportunities truly,” he explains.

Isidro is optimistic that Fuse, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, will continue to expand significantly and not just reach individual clients but also micro, small and medium enterprises that serve as the backbone of the economy.

“Leadership is about creating a clear vision and empowering the team to move as one toward it. At Fuse, that unity of purpose keeps us relentlessly focused on the customer,” Isidro says.

“It means balancing innovation with responsibility—we aren’t just building lending products; we’re building trust and helping Filipinos borrow with dignity,” he adds.