BSP extends registration of payment systems firms

MANILA, Philippines — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is giving operators of payment systems more time to register with the central bank as it extended the deadline for the submission of applications for three more months.

BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno said the Monetary Board approved the extension of the registration deadline for operators of payment systems to April 1 next year.

The extension is intended to give operators of payment systems more time to register and address various concerns that they may have concerning registration.

“Operators of payment systems that are currently operating and banks and electronic money issuers that are currently operating as operators of payment system shall register with, or notify, the BSP not later than April 1, 2020,” Diokno stated in Circular 1068.

The BSP has issued the registration guidelines for operators of payments systems through Circular 1049 last Sept. 5 requiring operators to register with the regulator not later than three months from effectivity or before Jan. 1, 2020.

The guidelines on the registration and notification requirements of OPS are provided under Memorandum 2019-023.

The circular is a product of extensive consultations among private and public stakeholders in the payments industry, and is part of the phased-in implementation of Republic Act 11127 or the National Payment Systems Act approved by President Duterte which prioritizes the creation of a baseline inventory of all operators of payment systems.

The inventory will be used as inputs in the crafting of rules and criteria for designating payment systems.

Operators of payment systems include those that maintain platforms that enable payments or fund transfers, regardless of whether the source and destination accounts are maintained with the same or different institutions, as well as those that operate the system or network that enables payments or fund transfers to be made through the use of a payment instrument.

Likewise, companies that provide a system that processes payments on behalf of any person or the government are required to register with the BSP.

In keeping with the thrust of the BSP to promote ease of doing business, the circular also provides a simplified registration process through self-assessment, streamlined list of documentary requirements, and descriptive examples-albeit not exhaustive-of activities that are akin to operating a payment system.

The law mandated the BSP to oversee the payment systems in the Philippines and exercise supervisory and regulatory powers over these payment systems for the purpose of ensuring the stability and effectiveness of the monetary and financial system.

So far the BSP has issued provisional certificates of registration to 58 operators of payment systems led by PayMaya Philippines Inc. G-xchange Inc. (GCash) as well as foreign and local banks.

The BSP launched the National Retail Payment System (NRPS) in December 2015 in its bid to raise the share of cashless transactions to 20 percent by 2020 from only one percent in 2013.

Based on the latest survey conducted by the Better Than Cash Alliance (BTCA) of the United Nations, the level of cashless transactions as of 2018 based on volume has increased to 10 percent from one percent and in terms of value to 20 percent from eight percent.