BSP extends waiver of fees for PhilPass +

MANILA, Philippines — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)  will continue to wave fees for transactions made under the Philippine Payment and Settlement System (PhilPass) Plus until the end of the first quarter to keep online transaction fees affordable.

Under the Memorandum Order M-2021-073 signed by Edna Villa, sector in charge for payments and management, the BSP extended up to the  last  business day of March the waiver of fees on fund transfers coursed through the PhilPass Plus.

“The waiver of fees on fund transfers which are settled through the PhilPass Plus is extended until the last business day of March 2022,” the memorandum read.

As such, the BSP asked participants of the PESO real time gross settlement (RTGS) payment system to expand the benefits provided by the memorandum. It expects that electronic channels like InstaPay, PESONet and QRPh, to keep their fees reasonable as a result.

“The BSP enjoins the participants of the PESO RTGS payment system to extend the benefits of this relief measure to the financial consumers by ensuring that the fees for electronic payment services, such as InstaPay, PESONet and QRPh, are reasonable,” the memorandum read.

InstaPay, formed under the framework of the National Retail Payment System, is an automated clearing system that specializes in making real-time, low-value electronic fund transfers for up to P50,000.

On the other hand, PESONet is an electronic fund transfer service that allows users to move cash beyond P50,000 through digital means and will be credited by the end of the day.

Introduced by the BSP in 2019, QRPh allows BSP-supervised financial institutions to read QR codes regardless of the source unlike in pay wallets that can only scan its own QRs.

Last week the Monetary Board issued a moratorium against any fee increases on InstaPay and PESONet person-to-person fund transfers. The BSP expects that such a move will encourage Filipinos to transition to the digital economy especially in a time when face-to-face transactions are discouraged.

Based on data from the BSP, at least 20 banks chose not to charge the PESONet transfer fees until the end of 2021. Likewise, there were 10 banks that did not collect InstaPay charges until Dec. 31 last year.