4 big banks waive fund transfer fees for below ₱1,000

There are now four big banks or universal and commercial banks that have heeded the central bank's call to waive fund transfer fees on small transactions with the addition of government-owned Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank).

Landbank said it has removed the fees for online fund transfers below ₱1,000 via Instapay and PESONET as of Wednesday, Nov. 1.

Landbank also said that it has reduced the interbank fund transfers of more than ₱1,000 to a fixed transaction fee of ₱15 from the previous ₱25.

The bank president and CEO, Lynette V. Ortiz, said they are waiving transaction fees for small-value online fund transfers to other banks as a Christmas season perk.

“This is our holiday gift to our valued customers, as we continue to promote safe and convenient digital transactions,” she said.

Landbank is hoping that in waiving transfer fees, this will “help clients send money to loved ones in a safe, secure, and convenient manner” which will promote financial inclusion in the country. The waived transfer fee is given to clients for the first three online fund transfers and transactions in a day via the Landbank Mobile Banking App (MBA), and the bank’s online retail banking channel, the iaccess, it said.

Meanwhile, fund transfers of Landbank and its digital bank Overseas Filipino Bank, regardless of the amount, remain free of charge.

“The latest move (supports) the call of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to promote cashless payments by removing the fees on small-value fund transfers,” said Landbank.

In July, the government bank increased the daily aggregate amount limit of fund transfers via Instapay from ₱50,000 to ₱100,000 and via PESONET up to ₱500,000 and ₱1.5 million.

“Daily transaction limit for fund transfer and bills payment has been removed, allowing customers to perform an unlimited number of transactions per day,” said the bank.

BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona Jr. has been urging all banks especially big banks such as Landbank to waive transfer fees on small online transactions.

Remolona admitted that for the moment, in the absence of a formal payments framework or other regulations that will compel banks to remove or reduce fees on small transactions, all the BSP could do is make an appeal using moral suasion.

With Landbank, there are now four big banks that have removed fees on small transfers up to ₱1,000 since February when BSP started to talk to banks and non-banks about cutting online transfer fees. The other banks are Ayalaled Bank of the Philippine Islands, the Ty-controlled Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., and the Aboitiz-owned Union Bank of the Philippines.

Remolona said BSP is also talking to non-banks with digital payments such as Gcash and Maya, formerly Paymaya.

Some banks and non-banks offer free Instapay service while others charge a rate of ₱8 to ₱25 per transaction.

Currently, there are 78 Instapay participating BSP supervised financial institutions, of which 22 are big banks, 19 are thrift banks, 15 are rural banks, and five are digital banks. There are also 17 non-bank financial institutions (NBFIS) in Instapay as e-money issuers (EMIS).