6 non-bank e-money issuers get BSP license

MANILA, Philippines — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has so far approved the application of six entities as non-bank electronic money issuers (EMIs) after the regulator imposed a two-year moratorium on the issuance of licenses in December last year.

Latest data from the central bank showed that it granted EMI licenses to 42 non-banks, higher than the 36 granted in end- 2021.

Licensed EMIs provide money transfer or remittance services using electronically stored money value system and similar digital financial services.

The BSP received 36 applications before the moratorium took effect on Dec. 16, 2021. Almost half of the applications were returned due to incompleteness and insufficiency of information submitted.

The BSP approved the policy measures in handling applications of non-banks to operate as EMI in November last year to ensure that their resources are managed and mobilized judiciously in a manner that promotes financial stability and inclusive growth, as well as advances the development of innovative electronic money solutions that offer strong value propositions.

To provide a mechanism by which entities that offer strong value propositions may be able to participate in the digital payments and financial ecosystem, Diokno said interested new non-bank EMI applicants with proposals involving new business models; unserved, targeted niches and new technologies could request for exception under the Test-and-Learn or Regulatory Sandbox framework.

Under its Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap, the BSP aims to convert 50 percent of total retail transactions to electronic channels and increase the number of Filipino adults with bank accounts to 70 percent by 2023.

With the pandemic serving as catalysts, estimates showed the share of digital payments to total retail transactions increased to 30 percent last year from 20.1 percent in 2020, while 53 percent of Filipino adults now have bank accounts as of the first quarter of 2021 from 29 percent in 2019.

BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno earlier said the regulator continues to further promote the stability of the Philippine payments system through Circular 1135, specifying the guidelines on the settlement of e-payments under the National Retail Payment System (NRPS) framework.

Diokno said the new set of guidelines strengthens the credit and settlement risk management of BSP-supervised financial institutions (BSFIs) participating in automated clearing houses.

“This is a key policy initiative toward encouraging the wider use of e-payment channels while ensuring that retail payment systems in the country operate in a safe, efficient, and reliable manner,” Diokno said.