BSP PhilPaSS transactions up 18%

MANILA, Philippines - The total value of financial transactions that passed through the Philippine Payments and Settlements System (PhilPaSS) jumped by 17.9 percent in the first nine months of last year as more Filipinos abroad course their remittances through the central bank’s payments facility.

Data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) over the weekend showed that the value of PhilPaSS transactions amounted to P51.8 trillion as of end-September last year or P7.9 trillion more than the P43.9 trillion transactions recorded as of end-September in 2009.

The BSP said the increase in the total transaction value was due largely to the 1,120 percent surge in the amount of overseas Filipino workers’ remittances; the 253.5 percent increase in delivery-versus-payments (DvP); the 69.1 percent rise in electronic delivery-versus payments (eDvP); 4.8 percent and 16.5 increases in the transactions of the Cash Department and Treasury departments of BSP; 4.8 percent improvement in interbank; 6.3 percent by Megalink; and 7.3 perent increase by the Philippine Clearing House Corporation (PCHC).

The volume of transactions surged by 47 percent to 287,315 in the first nine months of last year from 181,888 in the same period in 2009.

In 2009, the total value of transactions that passes through PhilPaSS dropped by 15.4 percent to P188.3 trillion from P222.6 trillion in 2008 due to the drop in the largest transactions, including interbank lending, payment versus payment and transactions in the Treasury

The BSP pointed out that OFW remittances that passed through the PhilPaSS-Remit system reached P1.8 billion in the third quarter of 2010 or about 12 times the P145.5 million recorded in the second quarter of last year.

The PhilPaSS-Remit system is part of the advocacy of the BSP to help Filipinos abroad and their beneficiaries by providing a safer, faster, and cheaper means of remittance. 

The BSP has banks and financial institutions to course OFW remittances through the central bank’s electronic payment and settlement system so that beneficiaries of Filipinos working abroad could enjoy lower fees.

There are about 12 banks that are currently coursing their OFW remittance transactions through the central bank’s PhilPaSS-Remit System .

The 12 banks have established their connectivity with the Philpass Remit System and have been transmitting batches of remittance transactions to the BSP gateway server for processing and settlement since May 4.

The central bank has issued a circular encouraging the banks’ full participation in the Philpass Remit System for electronic settlement of OFW remittances for credit to accounts of beneficiaries maintained in banks other than the remitting banks.

“For this purpose of such, all banks and other financial intermediaries performing overseas remittance business are hereby enjoined to participate in the Philpass,” the BSP stressed.

The Philpass Remit System involves the use of the BSP-Philpass as the local clearinghouse for the transfer of remittances from a local bank to another bank where the OFW beneficiary maintains an account.

The project is one of the initiatives undertaken by the BSP in coordination with the Association of Bank Remittance Officers Inc. (ABROI) through a memorandum of agreement (MOA) last December.