The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said it will continue to work with banks on measures to lower or waive transaction fees for small e-payments to make financial digitalization more inclusive.
Photo from BSP
“I am sure that the Bangko Sentral and our partners in the banking system will be able to find a cost-sharing system that excludes payments from fees, provided they are made below a certain number of transactions,” BSP governor Felipe M. Medalla said at the annual reception for the banking community hosted by the BSP at its Manila head office on Friday, Feb. 24.
“One way to make digitalization more inclusive is to make small transactions free of charge so that low-income households can be encouraged to use digital payments. If the value of the transaction is small and the charge is P15, for example, that fee is quite large relative to the transaction,” he explained.
Reducing the cost of e-payments is in line with the BSP’s Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap 2020-2023, which aims to convert half of retail payments volume into digital form and to onboard 70 percent of Filipino adults onto the formal financial system within this year.
Meanwhile, the BSP led the launch of the Paleng-QR PH Plus program on Friday, March 3, at the Pasig Mega Market in Pasig City.
Initial estimates indicate that over 2,000 vendors at Pasig City Mega Market have joined the Paleng-QR PH Plus program.
Pasig City is the first local government unit in the National Capital Region and the sixth in the Philippines to launch the program following the cities of Baguio, Davao, Tagbilaran, Naga, and Lapu-Lapu.
Spearheaded by the BSP and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Paleng-QR PH Plus encourages the use of QR (quick response) technology as a convenient, safe, and efficient payment solution.
QR brings the benefits of digital technology even to small vendors or tricycles, allowing them, among others, to accept e-payments.
By simply scanning a merchant’s QR code with their cellphones, customers can pay for purchases or services electronically, quickly, and conveniently.
