PESONet, InstaPay transactions up 38%

MANILA, Philippines — The value of electronic fund transfers coursed through the PESONet and InstaPay jumped by 38 percent to P8.89 trillion from January to November last year from a year-ago level of P6.45 trillion as more Filipinos embrace digitalization, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

Data released by the central bank showed that the value of PESONet transactions surged by 42.4 percent to P5.74 trillion during the 11-month period last year compared to P4.03 trillion in the same period in 2021.

Likewise, the amount of InstaPay transactions reached P3.15 trillion from January to November last year or 30.6 percent higher than the P2.41 trillion recorded in the same period in 2021.

In terms of transaction volume, PESONet and InstaPay posted a combined increase of 20.8 percent to 569.65 million from 471.62 million.

The volume of PESONet transactions increased by 18.8 percent to 77.12 million in the 11 months last year from 64.91 million a year earlier.

Likewise, the volume of InstaPay transactions grew by 21.1 percent to 492.53 million from 406.71 million amid the wide use of internet banking and e-money transactions for domestic remittances, e-commerce, bills payment, and other immediate low-value payments.

PESONet and InstaPay are automated clearing houses, launched under the BSP’s National Retail Payment System (NRPS) that was launched in December 2015 to promote a safe, efficient, affordable, inclusive and reliable retail payment system.

PESONet enables high-value transactions and may be considered as an electronic alternative to the paper-based check system, while InstaPay is a real-time, low value electronic fund transfer facility for transactions up to P50,000 and is most useful for remittances and e-commerce.

Under its Digital Payment Transformation Roadmap, the BSP aims to shift 50 percent of total retail transactions to electronic channels and onboard at least 70 percent of Filipino adults to the financial system through the ownership and use of a transaction account by 2023.

With the COVID-19 pandemic serving as catalyst, the share of digital payments to total retail transactions increased to 30.3 percent in 2021 from 20.1 percent in 2020.