Banks extend fee waivers for digital transactions

Clients of some of the country’s biggest banks will be able to use the services of two major digital payments channels for free until the end of the third quarter, while some financial institutions have decided to suspend these fees for the rest of the year.

Thus said Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Gov. Benjamin Diokno, who welcomed this move by bankers in response to the regulator’s call for relief measures that would benefit the general public and deepen the use of digital payments during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the BSP chief, Union Bank of the Philippines, Asia United Bank, Land Bank of the Philippines, Development Bank of the Philippines, Security Bank, Sterling Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and HSBC—all members of the Philippine Payments Management Inc.—to extend their waiver of fees for PESONet and InstaPay channels until Dec. 31, 2020.

The fee waiver is applicable for retail users, while corporate clients will see their fees reduced from P150 to P50 per transaction from July 1, 2020, onward.

“The rest of the membership will extend the waiver of fees until September 30, 2020,” Diokno said, referring to BDO Unibank, Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., Bank of Philippine Islands, RCBC, China Bank, Philippine National Bank, Bank of Commerce, Robinsons Bank, Philippine Savings Bank, Paymaya, GXI and China Bank Savings.

“The BSP is actively pushing for the use of digital payments now as part of a safe and convenient payment system,” Diokno said.

“My goal is to have half of all financial transactions—in volume and value—in digital form by the end of my term, which is midyear 2023,” he explained. “With the quantum jump in the use of digital payments during the lockdown, I’m confident that this goal would be achieved sooner.”