BusinessWorld’s 1st Quarter Banking Report for 2025 explores how the Philippine banking industry is balancing innovation with regulation amid its digital transformation. The report first looks into developments that could intensify cryptocurrency regulation in local markets, namely the new Crypto-Asset Service Provider rules from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the central bank’s lifting of its moratorium on new Virtual Asset Service Provider licenses. Also in focus is the central bank’s approval of four additional digital banks and its proof-of-concept wholesale Central Bank Digital Currency, “Project Agila.” All these are coupled with economists’ outlook for local financial markets and analysts’ bank stock recommendations and forecasts.