DTI readies e-payment system for business name registration

MANILA, Philippines - An electronic payment system for business registrations will be made available by the end of the year to make it easier for entrepreneurs to do business in the country, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said.

In a statement, the DTI said it is working with automated teller machine consortium Bancnet on the electronic payment scheme or debit payment feature for the enhanced Business Name Registration System (eBNRS).

“This debit payment feature of eBNRS and the supporting back-end and integration processes are currently under test. Debit payment facility is targeted for full implementation before the end of this year,” DTI undersecretary for management services Nora Terrado said.

The debit payment facility for business name registration forms part of the Memorandum of Agreement signed by the DTI with Bancnet and state-run Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) in May which would provide an electronic payment facility for the eBNRS to allow entrepreneurs to apply for a business name wherever they are through their computers or smartphones.

Through the electronic payment scheme, individuals who want to open a business could apply for a business name or renew the same without having to go to the DTI’s offices.

An individual could apply for a business name by simply visiting the DTI’s website.

After the business name application is made through DTI’s website, the business registrant could also pay for the required fees online if he or she has an ATM account with any of the Bancnet member banks.

The payment for the transaction would be debited from the registrant’s account and remitted to DBP as the DTI’s depository bank.

Apart from the debit payment facility, the DTI is also looking at other modes of payment to further improve the eBNRS.

The DTI is in discussions with providers on how payments for business name registrations could be made through mobile phone services as well as credit cards.

DTI Secretary Gregory Domingo said earlier making an electronic payment facility available for the eBNRS is expected to lead to an increase in online business registrations, with 15 to 20 percent of total business applications to be made via the Internet.

There about 300,000 businesses being registered every year.

Of the total business registrations, only about five percent are made online.