Digital Payments

These are the Major Banks Waiving Fees for PESONet, InstaPay Until Year’s End

A number of major banks have decided to extend the waiver for fund transfer fees for PESONet and InstaPay transactions until the end of this year instead of September 30, 2020 as scheduled previously.

PESONet and InstaPay are the two real-time electronic payments systems under the central bank’s National Retail Payment System (NRPS).

Utilisation of these systems surged particularly after the government implemented lockdown measures since middle of March, unwittingly boosting Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) goal to increase the number of digital payments to make up half of the total transactions made by the year 2022.

Banks that will waive the fees until the end of the year are Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC), Union Bank of the Philippines (Unionbank), Asia United Bank Corporation (AUB), Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank), Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), Security Bank Corporation (Security Bank), Sterling Bank of Asia, Inc. (Sterling Bank), Standard Chartered Bank, East West Banking Corporation (EastWest Bank), United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB), and Maybank Philippines, Inc. (Maybank).

HSBC will also waive fees for retail customers, reduced from PHP150 to PHP50 for corporate clients from July 1, 2020.

Meanwhile these banks will proceed with the fee from Oct 1, 2020 – BDO Unibank, Inc. (BDO), Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company (Metrobank), Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), China Banking Corporation (Chinabank), Bank of Commerce, Robinsons Bank Corporation (Robinsons Bank), Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank), China Bank Savings, Inc., Philippine Bank of Communications (PBCom) which is extending its PHP1 fee due to system constraints; and Equicom Savings Bank, Inc.

PayMaya Philippines, Inc. and G-Xchange, Inc. (GXI) are also waiving fund transfer fees until Wednesday.

Banks that have yet to announce their decisions on fees are Philippine National Bank (PNB), MUFG Bank, Ltd., CTBC Bank (Philippines) Corporation and Bank of China Limited – Manila Branch.

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