BancNet adds new members, more services last year

MANILA, Philippines - ATM consortium BancNet has expanded by 43.55 percent with the 27 banks and cooperatives joining its ranks last year. In 2010, it had eight new members, an increase of a mere 13.5 percent from the previous year.

Led by the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), the new members expanded BancNet’s line-up to 89 members, including two affiliate switch networks.

BancNet president Robert Blas said that the consortium attracts new members due to its wide range of services.

One of the attractive service is the online payment of Cebu Pacific, Philippine Airlines, and Victory Liner tickets using ATM cards.

Still another service is the online filing and payment of taxes, and the online remittance of Social Security System (SSS) contributions and loan repayments, which is very convenient for overseas Filipinos. There is also the mobile ordering and payment of Ayala Cinema tickets, McDonald’s and Max’s products, and online payment of tuition fees.

“We are now stress-testing our PhilHealth system, which is part of BancNet’s e-Gov (electronic government payment system) platform. This will enable companies to electronically send their reports and member contributions to PhilHealth,” Blas added.

BancNet is the only ATM consortium accredited by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) for its Electronic Filing and Payment System (EFPS), and by the SSS.

BancNet ATM network likewise expanded at the rate of 25.65 percent to 5,804 machines as of the end of 2011. It accounts for 50 percent of all ATMs nationwide. The number includes the first ATM that BancNet owns which it launched in October 2011.

ATM cardholders of BancNet members on the other hand, grew by 24 percent, or 2.4 million, bringing the total to 12.36 million cardholders, securing 37.4-percent market share.

BancNet executive vice president and chief operating officer Aris Zafra said that they processed a total of 363.3 million switched transactions last year. This is 10.52 percent more than in 2010 and translates to an average of almost one million transactions a day.

“The peak volume was 2.28 million switched transactions experienced last Dec. 15, which is a new record,” Zafra said.

He said that despite the heavy volume, BancNet maintained its host availability rate of 100 percent.

He further revealed that BancNet would be upgrading its switch system to the latest version this year.