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Standing in line at the bank for loan approval? Making multiple trips for additional requirements? AI might just cut that waiting game short.

What's happening: Intellect Design Arena, a global tech provider working with major banks, said Philippine banks could push loan growth from the current 10.5% to as high as 15-18% by adopting AI-powered lending systems. That's a massive jump considering BSP data shows lending cooled to 10.5% in September, the slowest pace in over a year.

Brajesh Khandelwal from Intellect said banks that lead this effort will grow faster than others. Competitive advantage, in short.

Who benefits: MSMEs, according to Khandelwal. Micro, small, and medium enterprises will be the growth engine. Maraming inefficiencies kasi that delay loan approvals for smaller businesses. Retail segments like auto, personal, and housing loans follow closely.

The timeline? As early as 2026, depending on how quickly banks adopt enterprise-grade AI platforms. Some banks are already experimenting, pero serious adoption is still needed.

But wait, what about credit quality?

Here's where it gets interesting. Despite faster credit expansion, non-performing loans (NPLs) are expected to remain manageable. Why? Because AI strengthens credit assessment and fraud detection. Faster decisions, yes, but also right decisions.

The tech can triangulate financials, KYC data, industry health, and policy trends to guide underwriters. Hindi lang bilis ang priority, accuracy din.

What's the catch: Regulation. Emerging expectations include transparency, non-bias in AI models, personal data protection, and maintaining "human in the loop" in final lending decisions. So kahit gaano ka-advanced ang AI, may tao pa rin in the decision-making process.

Khandelwal also mentioned AI can enhance servicing and collections, automate document validation, summarize credit memos, detect anomalies, and provide customer interaction through conversational digital agents. Beyond just approving loans, AI touches the entire lending lifecycle.

Why this matters: The Philippines is sitting on P13.7 trillion in outstanding loans as of September. That's P1.3 trillion higher than last year. But growth is slowing down, and banks need a catalyst.

AI could be that catalyst. For MSMEs struggling with cash flow, faster loan approvals mean seizing opportunities before they disappear. For consumers eyeing their first home or car, it means less paperwork and waiting time.

But here's the reality check: Philippine banks are still in early adoption stages. Some are experimenting, but enterprise-wide implementation hasn't happened yet. The banks that move first will capture market share. The ones that wait will play catch-up.

The efficiency AI can deliver is already being delivered elsewhere, according to Khandelwal. The momentum now lies with Philippine banks. Will they modernize fast enough to hit that 15-18% growth target? Or will regulatory hurdles and slow adoption keep them at the current pace?

Either way, the race is on. And for Filipino businesses and consumers, faster, smarter lending could mean the difference between opportunity seized and opportunity lost.

If AI is speeding up lending, it's also speeding up something darker: cyberattacks.

Fortinet's latest Cyberthreat Predictions Report warns that attacks will become faster, more organized, and increasingly driven by AI in 2026. We're not talking about isolated hackers anymore. Criminal groups are behaving like business organizations—using automation, AI-driven specialization, and predictable workflows to scale operations.

The urgent part? Attack windows are shrinking. The time from initial breach to exploitation could drop from days to just minutes. That leaves organizations with almost no time to react.

FortiGuard Labs projects that attackers will rely less on new techniques and more on optimizing existing ones. Speed over innovation. They'll use specialized AI agents to steal credentials, analyze stolen data, and generate targeted ransom demands. These agents won't be fully autonomous yet, but they'll significantly improve attack efficiency.

Underground market sophistication: The report also predicts that the cybercrime underground will mature into a structured marketplace. Tailored botnets, credential rentals, customer service models, even reputation systems for criminals. Parang Lazada, pero para sa cybercrime.

What organizations need: Defense systems must operate at machine speed. Detection and response intervals need to shrink from hours to minutes. Identity verification becomes critical not just for people, but for machine-to-machine interactions too.

The reality: While Philippine banks are adopting AI to accelerate lending, they're also inheriting the risks that come with faster, automated systems. The same AI that approves loans in minutes could be exploited by attackers moving at the same speed.

Organizations need unified, adaptive security postures that bring together threat intelligence, exposure management, and incident response into continuous, AI-enabled workflows. Hindi pwedeng pabaya. The attacks are coming faster, and defenses must match that speed.

Don't just "send a file.” Talk to the AI too. Maraming tao ang nag-uupload lang ng image, voice note, or document tapos "analyze this" lang. The result? Generic, surface-level answers that miss what you actually need.

The fix: CONTEXT + FOCUS + OUTPUT

Try this instead:

Biggest benefit? You get precise, usable outputs instead of vague summaries. Newbie or pro, this formula works every time.

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