BSP on Course for Digitalization of 50% Of Retail Payments

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is set to reach its target of digitalizing over 50% of all retail payments and drawing over 70% of Filipino adults into the financial system for 2024.

BSP Governor Felipe Medalla has mentioned that bringing in 70% of Filipinos and digitizing over 50% of transactions are “going quite well.”

“We’re doing quite well thanks to e-wallets (and) the onboarding. More and more Filipinos have accounts and the number of transactions, both the value and volume, is (being) targeted,” mentioned Medalla during the  United States Agency for International Development’s project for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) launch.

As businesses and consumers resorted to online channels in light of mobility issues during the pandemic, digital payments have been on the rise.

BSP data shows that the percentage of digital payments in the total volume of retail transactions increase to 30.3% in 2021 from 20.1% back in 2020.

“For its part, the BSP has introduced several initiatives to facilitate SMEs’ adoption of digital payments and financial services. For instance, our QR-Ph system; QR P2M facility, which allows person-to-merchant payments; and our Paleng-QR Ph Plus, where payments to market vendors, bicycle drivers, and jeepney drivers could now be done through your cellphone,” mentioned Medalla.

The BSP data also shows that the amount of merchant payments increased by 43.8% back in 2021 while peer-to-peer remittances grew by 268.6%.

“Now, of course, nothing is more frustrating than when your bank does not include one of your credit cards or one of your billers is not on its list of payees. Now that is being answered, as well, with all the other innovations that are happening because of this,”  added Medalla.

Source: Business World