The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has launched Bills Pay Ph via InstaPay on Tuesday, Nov. 29, ahead of its first quarter 2023 schedule.
BSP Governor Felipe M. Medalla said in time, the Filipino public will get used to more digital transactions instead of using cash. While “cash is something to beat” because of long-time use, it will be more convenient to go digital.
The use of Bills Pay Ph is also free since the merchants will bear the cost, said Medalla.
“Overtime, this will get better and better to the point (that it’s) just like cash and we will now take it for granted,” he said.
Bills Pay PH enables digital transactions between accounts from different payment service providers by scanning or uploading the QR Ph person-to-biller (P2B) code, or by manually inputting payment details for the non-QR mode of payment.
During the launch, Medalla asked the players in the payment industry to make the public more confident in using payment streams such as Bills Pay Ph. “Although they are rare, if there are glitches, they will be settled. We don’t have any worries (of glitches),” he added.
Meantime, Philippine Payments Management Inc. (PPMI) president Abraham Co said using Bills Pay Ph looked easy but it was possible to make it convenient only after “a lot of headaches”.
The payment facility had its pilot in early 2021. It now features about 470 billers, said Co, and more merchants are expected to come on board in the next months.
Co, who is also the chairman of Asia United Bank, said as the public has more of these digital services online, the challenge is in properly communicating its availability and adequate knowledge about each payment streams’ uses.
He said it can be very confusing for consumers to distinguish a QR code from another. The problem is no longer on the technical side but more on the communication side, said Co.
BSP Deputy Governor Mamerto E. Tangonan said Bills Pay Ph will definitely hasten the shift to more e-payments and will assure that the BSP’s target of migrating about 50 percent of all payment transactions into digital by next year will be met. As of end-2021, 33 percent of retail payments have shifted to e-payments.
During the launch, Tangonan said Bills Pay Ph will help onboard more billers and “widen the range of consumers and businesses who can enjoy the convenience of using digital payments.”
In 2021, of the 43.4 percent of Filipinos that made bills transaction or utility payments, only eight percent of these bills payment were done digitally.
Tangonan said Bills Pay Ph will change this. As an interoperable facility, it will “unify the country’s fragmented bills payment mechanisms by enabling billers to digitally collect from their customers even if the payment service providers of the billers are different from those of the customers,” he said.
The Bills Pay Ph via Instapay can go through both QR-using participants and non-QR mode. At the moment, there are six participants under the QR code and 10 under non-QR code.
Tangonan said more will join in the coming months, both QR and non-QR modes. “(The facility) makes it easier to connect biller and payer,” he said.
The Bills Pay facility basically allows customers to pay their bills such as electricity, water, and telephone bills even if the transaction accounts of the customer and the biller are in different payment service providers. It enables a more efficient collection among billers such as Meralco, PLDT, Converge, Malayan Insurance Company, Federal Land, College of Saint Benilde, Far Eastern University, Iloilo Electric Cooperative, and Leyte V Electric Cooperative.
The implementation of the clearing switch operator for Bills Pay Ph was completed in October 2021 for QR Ph P2B. The last service or the non-QR based payments was completed recently.
The BSP said through Bills Pay Ph, customers who have accounts with AllBank, Asia United Corporation, BDO Unibank Inc., China Banking Corp., Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., Philippine National Bank, Queen City Development Bank, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., Tayocash Inc., Union Bank of the Philippines, and Universal Storefront Services Corporation Money Services, Inc. can transact digital payments to 50 onboarded billers.
The BSP said participating billers with accounts with AllBank, BDO, Bank of the Philippine Islands, CIS Bayad Center, Metrobank, RCBC, Tayocash, Union Bank, USSC Money Services, and Wealth Development Bank Corp. can receive online payments from a bigger customer base.