MANILA, Philippines — The amount of electronic fund transfers via PESONet and InstaPay jumped by over 34 percent to P10.9 trillion from January to August compared to last year’s P8.13 trillion, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed.
During the eight-month period, the volume of PESONet and InstaPay transactions surged by 64.5 percent to 916.58 million from 557.25 million in the same period a year ago.
PESONet and InstaPay are automated clearing houses, launched under the BSP’s National Retail Payment System (NRPS), aimed at promoting a safe, efficient, affordable, inclusive and reliable retail payment system.
PESONet enables high-value transactions and may be considered as an electronic alternative to the paper-based check system, while InstaPay is a real-time, low value electronic fund transfer facility for transactions up to P50,000 and is most useful for remittances and e-commerce.
From January to August, the value of PESONet transactions went up by 27 percent to P6.37 trillion from a year-ago level of P5.01 trillion, while that of InstaPay jumped by 44.9 percent to P4.52 trillion from P3.12 trillion.
Last year, the combined value of PESONet and InstaPay transactions jumped by 29 percent to P12.86 trillion from P9.94 trillion in 2022 as volume increased by 46.8 percent to 929.64 million from 633.47 million.
Based on its 2023 Report on the Status of Digital Payments in the Philippines, the share of digital payments to total retail transactions jumped to 53 percent last year from 42 percent in 2022.
The BSP is now targeting to increase the share to 60 to 70 percent in the next four years, in line with the government’s Philippine Development Plan for 2023 to 2028.
Meanwhile, the BSP’s coin deposit machines have collected 250 million coins worth P950.36 million as of Sept. 15. The machines have completed 228,482 transactions since the deployment started in June last year.
The BSP plans to install 25 additional coin deposit machines early next year in major cities such as Cebu, Davao, Naga, Pampanga and Baguio. The central bank is not planning to deploy more coin deposit machines this year to further test the 25 units it rolled out in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.
GoTyme Bank earlier announced that it has integrated into the BSP’s coin deposit machines, allowing customers to deposit their coins and turn them into high-interest savings.
As the first bank partner to be integrated into the machines, GoTyme Bank offers consumers to convert coins into direct deposits that will earn four percent annual interest.