TRANSACTIONS coursed via the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) InstaPay and PESONet gateways continued to climb at end-October amid the sustained popularity of digital services.
The combined value of transactions done through the BSP’s automated clearing houses InstaPay and PESONet rose by 30.6% to P10.39 trillion as of October from P7.95 trillion in the same period last year, based on data posted on the central bank’s website.
In terms of volume, transactions coursed through the clearing houses grew by 43.7% to 733 million as of end-October from 510 million in the comparable year-ago period.
China Banking Corp. Chief Economist Domini S. Velasquez said InstaPay and PESONet transactions are expected to continue rising significantly.
“Coming from the pandemic, Filipinos saw the ease of conducting financial transactions online. The rise of digital banks will also contribute to increased volume,” she said in a Viber message.
There are six digital banks currently operating in the country, namely Tonik Digital Bank, Inc., GOtyme, Maya Bank, Overseas Filipino Bank, UNObank, and UnionDigital of Union Bank of the Philippines, Inc.
“Additionally, more and more investment products catered to retail clients can be accessed through internet and mobile banking. These developments will continue to push for further digitalization of financial transactions,” Ms. Velasquez said.
BSP data showed the value of PESONet transactions increased by 24.3% to P6.39 trillion as of end-October from P5.14 billion a year prior.
The volume of transactions that went through the payment gateway stood at 75.69 million, 8.6% higher than the 69.68 million seen as of October 2022.
On the other hand, the value of transactions coursed through InstaPay surged by 41.8% year on year to P4 trillion as of October from P2.82 trillion a year prior.
The volume of InstaPay transactions grew by 49.13% to 657.76 million from 441.06 million at end-October last year.
PESONet and InstaPay are automated clearing houses under the central bank’s National Retail Payment System, which was launched in December 2015 to promote a safe, efficient, affordable, inclusive and reliable retail payments system.
PESONet caters to high-value transactions and is considered as an electronic alternative to paper-based checks.
On the other hand, InstaPay is a real-time electronic fund transfer facility for low value transactions of up to P50,000.
The increase in PESONet and InstaPay transactions is expected to help the BSP achieve its twin goals to have 50% of retail payments done digitally and 70% of adult Filipinos as part of the formal financial system by the end of this year. — Keisha B. Ta-asan