Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) will permanently eliminate transaction fees for digital fund transfers via InstaPay and PESONet starting July 1, following the central bank's lifting of its cap on electronic payment pricing.

The oldest lender in the Philippines is moving to waive digital transaction charges across its main electronic service channels, which include the BPI mobile app, BPI Online web platform, VYBE e-wallet, and BizKo platform for small businesses, according to a report by InsiderPH published on Monday, June 29.

BPI President Jose Teodoro K. Limcaoco confirmed the report when contacted for comment by Manila Bulletin.

“Making interbank transfers free is a meaningful step toward enabling our customers to move their money more freely, while strengthening adoption of secure and convenient digital banking,” Limcaoco said in a separate statement.

“We expect this to drive more frequent use of digital transfers as customers no longer have to factor in per-transaction costs. It simplifies everyday payments and makes the BPI app an even more practical tool for managing finances,” he added.

The decision is expected to impact more than nine million enrolled digital customers of the bank. The permanent waiver will apply directly to both real-time InstaPay transfers and PESONet batch electronic fund transfer services.

The shift follows the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) decision to lift a five-year freeze on digital transfer fees. The regulatory change allows local commercial lenders to adjust pricing for the Philippines’ primary electronic payment networks.

Under previous regulatory mandates, BSP-supervised financial institutions were barred from raising fund transfer costs, leaving them only the option to implement reductions or total waivers.

While the new central bank policy gives lenders the operational flexibility to raise their transfer rates, the regulator has explicitly urged commercial institutions to adopt fair, market-based pricing models for all electronic fund transactions.

BPI stated that its decision to eliminate the costs entirely aligns with the monetary authority’s broader regulatory push for deeper integration of digital channels into the daily payment routines of Filipinos, with the ultimate goal of strengthening domestic financial inclusion.

As BPI currently serves more than nine million banked Filipinos, the elimination of the transaction fees is expected to remove persistent barriers to mainstream digital banking adoption. For the Makati-based lender, the policy update is anticipated to create a smoother, high-velocity environment for transactions interacting with competing commercial banks and local e-wallets.

To access the free electronic transfer services, BPI advised its retail and corporate customers that they must update their mobile applications to the latest software version available on digital storefronts.