BPI wins at Asian Innovation Excellence Awards 2025

BPI Salary On-Demand and Sweldo On the Spot redefine financial flexibility for Filipino employees.

The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) has been recognised at the Asian Innovation Excellence Awards 2025, winning Philippines Customer-Centric Innovation of the Year - Financial Services for its earned wage access solutions, BPI Salary On-Demand (SOD) and Sweldo On the Spot (SOS).

Launched in 2023, BPI Salary On-Demand enables employees to withdraw a portion of their earned salary anytime through the PayWage app, giving them secure, instant access to funds without resorting to informal lending. This addresses a crucial gap in the Philippine payroll system, where over half of Filipino employees rely on high-interest or informal credit for mid-cycle expenses.

In 2024, BPI expanded this innovation through Sweldo On the Spot, allowing eligible BPI Payroll clients to instantly access their wages—even without employer accreditation. This further promotes financial inclusion by giving more employees flexibility and control over their earnings.

Together, SOD and SOS have transformed payroll access nationwide. As of September 2025, the two programmes have collectively disbursed over PHP1.4b since inception and are expecting to end at PHP2.0b by end of 2025. BPI Salary On-Demand now works with 140+ companies and 55,000 employees, whilst Sweldo On the Spot has reached 570,000 BPI Payroll clients, completing over 220,000 transactions.

Employers now view earned wage access as a meaningful workplace benefit that helps reduce financial stress and improve employee retention.

The Asian Innovation Excellence Awards honours organisations driving measurable impact through innovation and operational excellence. BPI’s recognition underscores its ongoing mission to champion financial inclusion and customer-centric innovation for the Filipino workforce.

The Asian Innovation Excellence Awards is presented by Asian Business Review. To view the full list of winners, click here. For more information on the awards programme, you may contact Julie Anne Nuñez-Difuntorum at (+65) 3158 1386 ext 242 or at [email protected].