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Philippines: Free interbank payments extended
MANILA, Philippines — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has further extended the free interbank payments after Malacañang lengthened the enhanced community quarantine by another 15 days to prevent further spread of the deadly coronavirus disease.
BSP Deputy Governor Maria Almasara Cyd Tuaño-Amador issued Memorandum 2020-041, further extending a temporary relief measure on real time fund transfer system transactions among banks and non-banks under the central bank’s Philippine Payment and Settlement System (PhilPaSS) to May 29.
It would be recalled Amador issued Memorandum 2020-027 last April 21, waiving the fees on interbank payments to cushion the impact of the outbreak of the dreaded novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
“In light of the significant impact of the outbreak of the COVID-19 to the operations of financial institutions and financial markets, the BSP is providing a temporary relief measure to participants of the PhilPaSS, ultimately to benefit the Philippine economy and the general banking public,” Amador said.
Transaction fees for fund transfer instructions made with PhilPaSS were waived from April 1 to 30. Charges incurred prior to the issuance of the memorandum would be reversed, the BSP said.
Covered transactions include interbank, peso-leg of US dollar trades, peso-leg of government securities trades, Philippine Clearing House Corp. (PCHC) transactions, ATM transactions, and manual processing of interbank transactions.
PhilPaSS is a real time gross settlement (RTGS) system owned and operated by the BSP that processes and settles interbank high value payment transactions of banks through the demand deposit accounts of the bank maintained with the central bank.
It is a system where transfer of money or securities takes place from one bank to another on a real-time and on gross basis.
The system has 168 participants including big, mid-sized and small banks as well as non-banks with quasi-banking functions and external institutions.
BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno has been pushing the use of electronic payments to minimize face-to-face transactions and prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“We can do our part in stopping the spread of COVID-19 by staying home,” Diokno said.
Diokno is looking at increasing the level of digital payments to 50 percent of total transactions in terms of volume and value by 2023.
Data from the Better Than Cash Alliance (BTCA) showed the number of e-payment transactions in the country increased to 10 percent in 2018 from only one percent in 2013, while the value rose to 20 percent from eight percent.
Source: https://www.philstar.com/business/2020/05/17/2014483/free-interbank-payments-extended