BSP enlists banks’ aid to boost digitalization, financial inclusion

The country’s bank regulators are continuously pursuing initiatives to improve the level of digitalization in the economy which, in turn, is expected to raise the degree of financial inclusion among Filipinos, the central bank chief said.

As such, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno urged bankers to back the agency’s digital payments transformation roadmap aimed at raising to 50 percent the number of digital transactions in the country by 2023.

“Last October, the BSP issued this roadmap, which charts initiatives toward an efficient, inclusive, safe and secure digital payments ecosystem,” Diokno said during the recent general membership meeting of the Money Market Association of the Philippines, in a speech delivered for him by BSP Deputy Governor Chuchi Fonacier.

Under the roadmap, the BSP is working with stakeholders to enlist at least 70 percent of Filipino adults to the financial system through the ownership and use of transaction accounts by the time Diokno ends his term as central bank chief in 2023.

In line with this initiative, the BSP has also put in place a framework for establishing digital banks.

Also, Diokno identified sustainable finance, reforms on key financial market benchmarks, the supervisory assessment framework, and the BSP’s legislative agenda as priority areas.

Diokno earlier expressed confidence these targets were doable, despite the implementation challenges posed by the pandemic.

In fact, the pandemic has been a catalyst for financial digitalization, as mobility restrictions prompted more people to use digital payments.

In 2020, over 4 million new electronic financial accounts were created in the Philippines.

Cybersecurity has also been a top-of-mind issue for the BSP as it seeks to build public trust in digital banking. INQ