Banks see surge in e-money transfers
A consortium of banks sees higher volume of electronic money (e-money) transfers as more industry players start using Instapay.
Abraham Co, president of the Philippine Payments Management Inc. (PPMI), said the recently established automated clearing house provides the infrastructure for financial institutions, allowing the banking public to have seamless interbank fund transfers.
The self-regulated organization recognized by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) as the Payments System Management Body (PSMB) to implement the National Retail Payment System (NRPS) framework is looking at over 100 BSPsupervised financial institutions (BSFIs) participating as they move towards increased digitalization efforts.
“There were a total of 20 participants on the day of its launch in April, but only seven institutions have the capacity to send and receive payments via Instapay. We expect this number to grow to over 100 or at least 90 percent of all BSFIs, as each company ramps up their system readiness to participate,” Co said.
PPMI recognizes that different financial institutions have different IT infrastructure and “some adopt quickly, while others are not as nimble to connect to BancNet.”
PPMI said check payments and ATM transactions would likely shift to e-money transfers since this is the fastest way to safely move funds, enabling the public to initiate real-time payment transactions.
“Significant volumes should shift to this platform within a year’s time. Today, about 75 percent of checks processed daily are below P50,000. Right here is an immediate market for Instapay. E-transfers could also reduce cash transactions which can impact ATM usage,” Co said.
PPMI said that e-money transfers would soon prevail for as long as the banking industry ensures security of the network, while participants continue to create financial products.
“The banking public will want to use Instapay because of the user-experience it provides. It is a quick, easy and secure option for money transfers and payments,” Co said.