Additional financial institutions have waived their fund transfer fees in response to the central bank's push to lower digital transaction costs.
Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank) and its thrift bank arm Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) have made online interbank fund transfers via InstaPay and PESONet free starting on Thursday (July 9). Metrobank has limited InstaPay transfers via the Metrobank app to an aggregate amount of P100,000 daily (up to P50,000 per transaction), while users are allowed to send P200,000 per day via PESONet.
PSBank said interbank transfers via PSBank Mobile and Online are now free. According to the bank, PESONet transactions are limited to a total of P200,000 daily, while InstaPay transfers are capped at P50,000. The bank previously imposed a P10 fee for InstaPay and P50 for PESONet transfers.
BDO Unibank, Inc. has also waived its InstaPay and PESONet transfer fees, although the bank had not made an official advisory as of press time. It previously charged P10 for InstaPay transfers and P50 for PESONet transfers.
Security Bank Corp. is also making fund transfers free for all its customers starting on Friday (July 10). This benefit was previously exclusive to its Gold, Wealth, Corporate, and Business Banking clients. Regular individual clients were previously charged P10 for InstaPay transfers and P10 for PESONet transactions.
The central bank's National Retail Payment System framework requires financial institutions to adopt reasonable, fair, and market-based pricing for individual fund transfers. BSP Circular 1238, issued on June 17, took effect on July 4 and requires fees charged for person-to-person transactions between different institutions to not be materially different from charges for transfers within the same entity.
The fee waiver is aligned with the central bank's goal to lower retail digital transaction costs and improve the country's digital payments system. Lower transfer fees will facilitate interoperability, which would boost usage, and the central bank wants digital payments to make up 60%-70% of the total volume of retail payments by 2028 in line with the Philippine Development Plan.
