By Ashley Erica O. jose, reporter
The operator of GCash is Globe Fintech Innovation, Inc. (Mynt) has secured approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its stock split, a development seen as an important step towards its planned initial public offering (IPO).
The SEC approval allows Mint to increase its common shares at three centavos to P71.66 billion, while keeping its authorized capital stock at P2.15 billion, Globe said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday. Stock splits increase the number of shares without changing the overall capitalization of the company, effectively making each share more economical and improving liquidity.
“We believe the stock split was done in preparation for GCash's planned IPO. Stock splits are a common practice for companies planning to be publicly listed,” Unicapital Securities equity research analyst Peter Lewis DC Garnes said in a message to Viber. businessworld,
In June, Ayala Corp. announced that Mint's board and shareholders had approved a stock split to increase the number of its common shares ahead of its planned IPO. Mynt is a strategic partnership between Globe, Ayala Corp. and Ant International, a Singapore-headquartered company engaged in digital payments and financial technology.
GlobalInx Securities & Stocks, Inc. Toby Allen C. Arce, head of sales trading at Mint, said the SEC approval indicates that Mint is actively preparing for its stock market debut. “This type of stock split typically occurs before an IPO, which aligns the company's structure with public market norms and suggests that the regulatory and valuation groundwork is well underway,” he said.
“Such affordability is particularly relevant for GCash, given its huge user base, and will allow more retail investors to participate once the company is publicly listed,” he said.
He said it appears that Globe and Ayala are timing the restructuring to position GCash for favorable market conditions, which reflects management's confidence in investor demand for its shares.
“This is a strategic signal that GCash’s IPO plans are accelerating. The restructuring of its capital base reflects a clear intention to unlock value and expand reach ahead of what becomes 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 more likely as Globe and Ayala continue to work to bring GCash to the public market.
Globe Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ernest L. Q told earlier businessworldGCash's one-on-one interview series focuses on growth, emphasizing its efforts to expand its user base and promote financial inclusion. In April, Globe said the IPO could happen later this year or in 2026.
GCash currently has 94 million registered users in at least 16 markets, including the United States, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Australia, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, and Taiwan.
Separately on Tuesday, the Cyber Crime Investigation and Coordination Center (CICC) of the Department of Information and Communications Technology said that GCash operator G-Exchange, Inc. The alleged data leak related to the company has not happened from the company's system.
“Further investigation also reveals that the datasets in question did 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 a system investigation by the agency.
This follows GCash's statement that its systems are secure after a forensic investigation found no breach, despite reports that user data was being sold on the dark web. The CICC said it was continuing to investigate possible individuals or groups behind the reported risks.
“Investigative efforts are ongoing to verify the origin of the uploaded data and establish any links to previous cyber incidents,” the CICC said. “All findings will be coordinated with appropriate authorities as part of the due process and in accordance with existing cyber crime investigation protocols.”
On Monday, GCash said its preliminary findings showed that the alleged dataset did not match the structure used in its system and included entries from individuals who are not GCash users, many of which were “incomplete, inconsistent or invalid.”
