SEC orders Digido to permanently halt financing operations

THE SECURITIES and Exchange Commission (SEC) has ordered Digido Finance Corp. to permanently cease all its financing operations after discovering that the company continued operating despite the revocation of its corporate registration and secondary license last year.

In an order dated Feb. 18, the SEC’s Financing and Lending Companies Department (FLCD) found Digido administratively liable for violations of Section 12(b)(1) and (2), and Section 14 of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of Republic Act No. 8556, or the Financing Company Act (FCA).

“The order came following an investigation by FLCD which found that Digido continued to engage in the business of financing even after the Commission’s issuance of an order on May 9, 2025, revoking its certificate of incorporation and certificate of authority to operate as a financing company,” the Commission said in a statement on Friday.

Section 12 of the FCA IRR bars entities from operating as a financing company or representing themselves as one without a valid certificate of authority and certificate of incorporation. Meanwhile, Section 14 penalizes failure to comply with any lawful, immediately executory order from the Commission.

The SEC then ordered Digido to pay a P600,000 administrative fine, consisting of P100,000 each against the company and its five officers.

The FLCD denied Digido Finance Corp.’s argument that the order was not yet final or appealable, explaining that revocation orders qualify as immediately executory under the 2016 SEC Rules of Procedure.

The FLCD said that Digido continued processing and approving loan applications, disbursing funds to borrowers, issuing disclosure statements and promissory notes, and maintaining active loan accounts.

“Each post-revocation loan transaction constitutes a discrete and independent act of engaging the business of a financing company without authority. The statutory violation is not theoretical; it attaches to every extension of credit made after revocation,” the order read.

The FLCD also discovered that Digido had been handling loan servicing and collections through Fingertip Finance Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore-based Robocash Pte. Ltd.

“The continuation of collection operations through Fingertip is particularly telling. Collection and servicing are not ministerial remnants of past activity when they are executed through structured payment channels, borrower communications, and organized remittance instructions,” the order read.

“They are integral incidents of financing operations. By directing borrowers to remit payments through Fingertip after revocation, [Digido] sustained the operational core of its financing business despite the Commission’s withdrawal of authority,” it added.

BusinessWorld sought comment from Digido Finance Corp. via e-mail but had not received a response as of press time. — Alexandria Grace C. Magno