Banks, e-money issuers waive bank fees until Dec. 31

WITH the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) actively promoting the use of digital transactions, the members of the Philippine Payments Management Inc. are extending their waiver of fees for PesoNet and InstaPay transactions.

“This is in response to the BSP’s call to strengthen the use of digital payments to help curb physical payment transactions amid the Covid-19 pandemic,” the BSP said in a statement. It said such move is part of a safe and convenient payment system.

InstaPay enables an account holder to transfer money worth up to P50,000 per day. This is immediately credited to a recipient account in any participating financial institution. It is designed for urgent and small-value transactions.

On the other hand, PesoNet is designed for highvalue transactions of companies, other businesses, government agencies and individuals. It is the electronic alternative for transferring funds via checks.

Money transfers made under PesoNet have no transaction limit per day. Crediting to the recipient account is on the same banking day, provided that a sender transfers money within the cut-off time set by financial institutions.

Dec. 31 extension

Banks and e-money issuers extending their waiver fees until Dec. 31, 2020 are the Union Bank of the Philippines, Asia United Bank Corp., Land Bank of the Philippines, Development Bank of the Philippines, Security Bank Corp., Sterling Bank of Asia, Inc., Standard Chartered Bank, East West Banking Corp., United Coconut Planters Bank, Maybank Philippines Inc., and Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. (which fees are waived for retail but for corporate, it reduced fees from P150 to P50 starting July 1, 2020).

Banks that waived fees until Sept. 30, 2020 are BDO Unibank Inc., Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company, Bank of the Philippine Islands, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., China Banking Corp., Bank of Commerce, Robinsons Bank Corp., Philippine Savings Bank, PayMaya Philippines Inc., G-Xchange Inc. (GXI), China Bank Savings Inc., Philippine Bank of Communications (extending its P1 fee due to system constraints) and Equicom Savings Bank Inc.

Banks that waived their fees until further notice are Philippine National Bank, MUFG Bank Ltd., CTBC Bank (Philippines) Corp., and Bank of China Limited–Manila Branch.