THE VALUE of transactions made through the Philippine Payment and Settlement System (PhilPaSS) Plus fell by 2.3% last year amid lower transactions with Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) units.
Transactions hit P500.41 trillion from P512.06 trillion in 2022, according to data posted on the central bank website. The volume of PhilPaSS Plus transactions rose by 5.1% to 1.448 million from a year earlier.
PhilPaSS Plus is the lone peso real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system in the Philippines that is owned and operated by BSP.
It allows efficient and low-risk settlement of large-value fund transfers between financial institutions and facilitates the settlement of fixed-income security trades and other financial market transactions.
By settling retail payment clearing results, the PhilPaSS Plus ensures that people, businesses and the government can send and receive money through several channels such as checks, automated teller machines, InstaPay and PESONet.
Based on BSP data, transactions settled with BSP units fell by 9.3% to P372.926 trillion last year. Payments from customers, corporations and the government went up by 13.7% to P31.83 trillion from 2022.
The value of transfers between financial institutions rose by 43.2% to P20.12 trillion, while intra-account transfers increased by 12.7% to P7.45 trillion. Government collections and payments rose by 1.1% to P10.12 trillion.
Transactions made through the financial market infrastructure and clearing switch operators grew by 15.1% to P92.63 trillion. The central bank had 5,987 average daily transactions worth P2.06 trillion.
The BSP through its Payments and Settlements Department serves as the payment system operator responsible for the operation and maintenance of PhilPaSS and its critical components.
It ensures that PhilPaSS operates continuously, safely and efficiently so that time-critical payments are completed to facilitate and enhance economic processes. Smooth operations also allow it to manage risks and absorb shocks to promote financial stability, according to BSP. — Keisha B. Ta-asan