BSP mulls shame campaign against banks on waived fees

MANILA, Philippines — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) wants to shame other major banks that have yet to waive fees for small value transactions, as the BSP continues to ramp up its push for digitalization.

According to BSP Governor Eli Remolona Jr., the regulator is set to meet with members of the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) to talk about the payments system in general, as well as discuss the call of the BSP to waive the fees slapped on small transactions.

Remolona said three major banks in the Philippines have already removed the fees for small value electronic fund transfers.

“For now, three of the major banks have removed fees on small transfers. Up to P1,000, I think, are free for these three major banks and we’re trying to shame the other major banks into following the same policy,” the BSP chief said.

Ty-led Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank) has waived the fees for small InstaPay fund transfers of up to P1,000 via its Metrobank app until the end of the year, while Aboitiz-owned Union Bank of the Philippines is offering free InstaPay fund transfers of below P1,000 until Nov. 11 this year.

Ayala-owned Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) offered zero InstaPay fees on its new BPI app for transactions up to P1,000 between July 5 and Sept. 30 this year.

According to Remolona, the BSP will continue to encourage banks to waive the fees slapped on small value transactions as it continues to implement the Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap that aims to shift 50 percent of total retail transactions to electronic channels and increase the number of banked Filipino adults to 70 percent before the end of this year.

With the COVID-19 pandemic serving as catalyst, the share of digital payments to total retail transactions increased further to 42.1 percent in 2022 from 30.3 percent in 2021, while the number of banked Filipino adults almost doubled to 56 percent in 2021 from 29 percent in 2019.

“So far yes, it’s moral suasion. It works to a large extent, moral suasion, but we’re formalizing it into a whole payments framework. So we’re talking to the BAP on Friday about payments in general. We have some discussions and out of that we expect something more formal to come out,” Remolona said.