Malacañang has expressed hope that more banks would follow the lead of the state-run Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) in reducing or eliminating digital fund transfer fees to ease the burden on ordinary Filipinos.

In a press briefing on Monday, July 6, Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Undersecretary Castro said the initiative is consistent with President Marcos' goal of making financial transactions cheaper and more accessible to the public.

"Mas nanaisin po natin na lahat po sana ng bangko ay gayahin na rin po ang pinasimulan ng LandBank, para po makatulong sa ating mga kababayan (We hope all banks will follow what LandBank has begun to help our fellow Filipinos),” she said.

Castro credited Department of Finance (DOF) Secretary Frederick Go, also the chair of the LandBank board, for initiating the move through the government bank.

"Sila po talaga ang nagpauna sa pamamagitan po ng LandBank na ma-reduce ang transfer fees at ma-eliminate ang convenience fees for certain person-to-government transactions (They led the initiative through LandBank to reduce transfer fees and eliminate convenience fees for certain person-to-government transactions),” she said.

LandBank first reduced its InstaPay transfer fee for person-to-person transactions from P15 to P8 beginning May 21, while also introducing one free InstaPay transfer daily for transactions worth P1,000 or less.

The bank later expanded the initiative by waiving convenience fees for eligible online government payments made through QRPh beginning June 1 until the end of the year.

Castro noted that private banks have started responding to the initiative.

"At dahil po dito, nag-start po ang LandBank; sinimulan ng LandBank, sumunod na rin po ang BPI at ang RCBC (Because LandBank started it, BPI and RCBC followed suit),” she said.

Bank of the Philippine Islands announced that beginning July 1, it would permanently waive InstaPay and PESONet transfer fees for transactions made through its digital channels.

Meanwhile, RCBC started offering free InstaPay transfers to other local banks through its digital banking platforms beginning July 4, becoming the latest major bank to remove interbank transfer charges.

According to Castro, the growing movement among banks to reduce transfer charges aligns with the President's broader push for digitalization and financial inclusion.

"Ito po ay sang-ayon na rin po sa kagustuhan ng Pangulo (This is in line with the wishes of the President),” she said.

However, the Palace official stopped short of calling for mandatory zero transfer fees across the banking industry. Despite this, Castro said the administration would welcome similar initiatives from other financial institutions.

The push gained momentum after Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Eli Remolona Jr. earlier expressed optimism that more banks would waive or significantly reduce transfer fees as new regulations limiting charges to actual processing costs take effect.

The BSP has said interbank transfer fees should reflect only the actual "switch cost" of processing transactions through payment networks, which is estimated at around P1.50 per transaction.