Financial inclusion panel pushes for digital payments
THE inter- agency body Financial Inclusion Steering Committee (FISC) has emphasized the importance of digital payments in the new economy amid the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.
In a statement on Saturday, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said “the FISC agreed to promote digital payments as an imperative for financial inclusion in the new economy, and to collectively shepherd statutory issuances that can liberalize the use of satellite technology and services to address the challenges in internet connectivity.”
According to the central bank, the panel made this commitment during its ninth meeting on October 6 via videoconferencing facilities.
To further catalyze the broader adoption of digital payments by consumers and businesses, the Bangko Sentral said it provided an overview of the country’s digital payments landscape and presented the BSP Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap.
The roadmap charts the central bank’s current initiatives and strategy in advancing an efficient, inclusive, safe and secure digital payments ecosystem.
It has two key strategic objectives. First is strengthening customer preference for digital payments by converting 50 percent of the total volume of retail payments in digital form and expanding the number of the financially included to 70 percent of Filipino adults by boarding them on the formal financial system through the use of payment or transaction accounts.
The second is the availability of more innovative digital financial products and services designed to be responsive to the needs of consumers, enabled by a digital ID (Philippine Identification
System or PhilSys) and supported by the availability of a next-generation payment and settlement system to facilitate real-time processing of financial transactions.
“The FISC discussed other initiatives, such as harmonization of government efforts to digitize collections and disbursements, payment of private sector wages through transaction accounts, and digitization of the distribution of benefits under the Social Amelioration Program,” the central bank said.
The committee, it added, is committed to enabling the delivery of welfare-enhancing and digitally accessible financial services to all Filipinos.
Established in 2016 through Executive Order 208, the FISC is tasked with guiding and overseeing programs and activities under the National Strategy for Financial Inclusion. It is led by the Bangko Sentral and composed of 30 government agencies instrumental in promoting financial inclusion in the country.
These include several departments; the National Economic and Development Authority; Securities and Exchange Commission; Insurance Commission; and Philippine Statistics Authority.