FUND TRANSFERS coursed through the PESONet and InstaPay continued to surge at end-June as more Filipinos use digital payment platforms, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed.
The total value of transactions coursed through the BSP’s automated clearing houses InstaPay and PESONet climbed by 30.6% to P5.93 trillion as of June from P4.54 trillion in the same period in 2022.
In terms of volume, transactions done through the clearing houses stood at 398 million, 35.3% higher than the 294 million in the comparable year-ago period.
Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said the increase in the value and volume of transactions done via InstaPay and PESONet is about 4-5 times faster than the country’s economic growth of 6.4% in the first quarter.
“There is still a strong adoption of digital fund transfers by the banking public, as this may also reflect the continued faster growth as well in online transactions,” Mr. Ricafort said, adding that consumers find digital transactions more convenient as fund transfers can be done anywhere with an internet connection.
The value of PESONet transactions rose by 24.4% to P3.66 trillion in the first half of the year from P2.94 trillion a year prior, BSP data showed.
The volume of PESONet transactions went up by 10.1% to 44.89 million in the January-to-June period from 40.76 million in the same period in 2022.
Meanwhile, the value of transactions done through InstaPay soared by 41.2% year on year to P2.26 trillion in the first six months from P1.6 trillion in the comparable year-ago period.
The volume of InstaPay transactions likewise increased by 39.3% to 352.9 million as of end-June from 253.2 million a year earlier.
PESONet and InstaPay are automated clearing houses launched under the BSP’s National Retail Payment System (NRPS) that was rolled out in December 2015 to promote a safe, efficient, affordable, inclusive and reliable retail payment system.
Operated by the Philippine Clearing House Corp., PESONet enables high-value transactions and is considered as an electronic alternative to the paper-based check system and recurring payments.
InstaPay is a real-time, low-value electronic fund transfer facility for transactions up to P50,000 and is handled by BancNet, Inc.
Under its Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap, the BSP aims to digitize 50% of total retail transactions and onboard at least 70% of Filipino adults to the financial system by the end of this year.
The share of digital payments in total retail transactions increased to 42.1% in 2022 from 30.3% in 2021.
The BSP’s NRPS mainly promotes interoperability or enabling consumers to transfer funds from one account to another account in any BSP-supervised financial institution.
“By enabling interoperability, sustained adoption of electronic payments is plausible as electronic transactions are made more convenient,” the BSP earlier said.
The NRPS likewise facilitates the delivery of a wide range of financial products that cater to the needs of consumers. — Keisha B. Ta-asan
