Real-time interbank money transfer service, InstaPay, recorded its highest single-day volume of 1.88 million transactions on December 15, 2021. Their total value was also an all-time high of P12.93 billion. According to InstaPay operator BancNet, this volume is 54-percent higher than the volume of 1.22 million transactions and this total value is 71-percent more than the P7.55 billion recorded on the same day last year. December 15 is the last payday before Christmas and when some employees also receive their 13th month pay or Christmas bonus.
Total approved switched transactions processed by BancNet last December 15 exceeded 6 million, including transactions at ATMs, Point-of Sale terminals, and the Internet aside from InstaPay. This volume is 37-percent more than the total volume on December 15, 2020. The total value of these transactions of nearly PhP27 billion is 31-percent higher compared to the same day last year.
“As of last December 15, total InstaPay transactions for the year increased by 86.6-percent from 2020,” said Elmarie Reyes, BancNet CEO, “indicating that people have embraced digital financial transactions. The strict community quarantines last year forced us to go digital but even with the easing of mobility restrictions these past few months, InstaPay continued to grow relentlessly.”
“The share of InstaPay to total switched transactions in 2020 was 27.65-percent. It’s now 31.18-percent,” Reyes added, “and we expect this upward trend to continue next year as access to the Internet expands along with the country’s economic recovery.”
InstaPay is available through the mobile apps of 61 partner banks and non-bank e-money issuers. Mobile app users can send and receive money instantly to and from accounts in another bank or e-wallet in any of three ways: by inputting an account number, through a QR PH code, or by using a mobile number or email address registered with participating banks.
Initially designed for person-to-person money transfers and payments, InstaPay now also enables consumers to pay for goods and services at over 200,000 partner stores and other business establishments nationwide displaying the QR PH code.
InstaPay was launched in April 2018 as part of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ National Retail Payments System whose goal is to raise to 50-percent the ratio of cashless transactions to total transactions by 2023. Since then, over 660 million InstaPay transactions have been processed by BancNet.