COMPETITION WATCHDOG Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) is conducting a market inquiry on interbank electronic fund transfer services, as it reviews the proposed merger of BancNet, Inc. and Philippine Clearing House Corp. (PCHC).
“The review entails assessing the impact on competition of the merger, the merged entity’s ability and incentive to increase fees, lower the quality of its services, and reduce innovation, and other possible effects of the transaction (including the effect on quality and reliability of services by InstaPay and PESONet),” the PCC said in a statement.
The competition watchdog said it is important to get feedback from consumers and bank clients who use these interbank fund transfer services as it reviews the BancNet-PCHC merger.
Consumers and bank clients are invited to answer the survey on the PCC website (https://www.phcc.gov.ph) until Aug. 11.
BancNet and PCHC are the clearing switch operators for InstaPay and PESONet.
PESONet is an electronic fund transfer service operated by the PCHC. It is considered as a viable alternative for checks and recurring payments.
Meanwhile, InstaPay is a real-time, low-value payment substitute for cash transactions that is operated by BancNet.
As of June, transactions made via InstaPay and PESONet had risen by 30.6% to P5.93 trillion from P4.54 trillion a year earlier.
Transactions done through the two clearing houses increased by 35.3% to 398 million from 294 million a year ago.
PESONet transactions in the first half were valued at P3.66 trillion, up by 24.4% from P2.94 trillion last year, while the volume of transactions increased by 10.1% to 44.89 million from 40.76 million the prior year.
In the same period, InstaPay transactions were valued at P2.26 trillion, increasing by 41.2% from P1.6 trillion last year, while the volume of transactions jumped by 39.3% to 352.9 million from 253.2 million a year earlier. — RMDO
