The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has tagged the digital payment schemes PESONet and InstaPay as prominently important payment systems or PIPS under the National Payment Systems Act (NPSA), said BSP Governor Felipe M. Medalla.
“The designation of PESONet and InstaPay as PIPS is considered timely, as these payment systems will facilitate the launch of other use cases for digital transactions, such as interoperable bills payments and direct debits,” said Medalla in a statement on Thursday, July 14.
“This further promotes consumer welfare as we continue making progress toward the BSP’s objective of reaching 50% (percent) digital payments by 2023,” he added. As of end-2021, about 30.3 percent of all payment transactions are already in digital form.
Medalla signed the circular letter designating the two electronic fund transfer services on July 13. This subjects both PESONet and InstaPay closer BSP supervision and monitoring to protect the public.
PESONet and InstaPay was launched in 2017 and 2018 and their usage reached its heights during the pandemic. PESONet is a batch electronic fund transfer service and is a viable alternative for checks and recurring payments. InstaPay, on the other hand, is a real-time, low-value payment substitute for cash transactions.
PESONet is operated by the Philippine Clearing House Corporation while BancNet operates InstaPay.
Based on BSP Memorandum No. M-2022-031, as PIPS, the two payment systems are expected to comply with international standards for a “safe, efficient, and reliable operations”.
Under the Payment System Oversight Framework, PIPS refers to a payment system which may not trigger or transmit systemic risk, but could potentially cause adverse economic impacts or undermine the confidence of the public in the national payment system or in the circulation of money.