PH rolls out 3 new digital payment services

MANILA, Philippines — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Wednesday stepped up its push to system, launching three payment initiatives that include higher-value InstaPay transfers for businesses and a direct debit facility designed to automate bill payments.

Launched with the Philippine Payments Management Inc., the initiatives include Direct Debit PH, InstaPay Cash-In and InstaPay for Business.

READ: InstaPay, PESONet transfers reach P16 trillion

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Direct Debit PH allows customers to authorize billers to automatically collect payments from their bank or e-wallet accounts on scheduled due dates, eliminating the need for manual payments.

InstaPay Cash-In lets users request funds from another person through participating banks or e-wallets, with the sender completing the transfer directly from their account.

Meanwhile, InstaPay for Business raises the maximum transfer limit for registered businesses tenfold, to P500,000 from P50,000, allowing companies to make larger digital payments without resorting to other payment channels.

Together, the new services are intended to make digital payments more convenient and efficient for both consumers and businesses, while encouraging wider adoption of electronic transactions, the BSP said.

As of 2024, digital channels accounted for 57.4 percent of retail payments, BSP data showed.

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Officials acknowledged the next phase would be more difficult. The central bank’s target to digitalize 60 percent to 70 percent of retail payments by 2028 requires expanding the user base while lowering transaction costs and strengthening antifraud systems.

The push has a clear economic rationale. The Bank for International Settlements has found that every 1-percentage-point increase in digital payment use corresponds with a 0.1-percentage-point rise in gross domestic product per capita and a 0.06-percentage-point drop in informal employment. These are gains linked to better access to credit and other basic financial services.

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At a press conference, BSP Deputy Governor Mamerto Tangonan said the fresh efforts of the central bank could make its goal more achievable, citing encouraging results from the pilot phase of the three new initiatives.

“I’m more confident now that we will hit the 2028 target,” he said. INQ