BSP Distributes Coin Deposit Machines

To encourage the use of coins and prevent hoarding, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) last week launched its Coin Deposit Machine (CoDM) Project in the malls of the country’s two retail giants, SM and Robinsons.

Photo Insert: BSP officials, led by BSP Governor Felipe M. Medalla, deployed the CoDMs in SM Mall of Asia and Robinsons Ermita.

BSP officials, led by BSP Governor Felipe M. Medalla, deployed the CoDMs in SM Mall of Asia and Robinsons Ermita. Medalla said the CoDM will promote the BSP’s coin recirculation program and should discourage the hoarding of coins.

Last year, the BSP signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with SM Retail Inc., Filinvest Land Inc. and Robinsons Supermarket. By August, the BSP piloted 25 CoDMs in Metro Manila and select nearby provinces.

Medalla said the BSP intends to gradually increase CoDMs in the next two years to improve coin circulation. He said previously that recirculating coins were always problematic for the central bank because some people hoard or collect coins or just ignore them.

This leads to an artificial coin shortage.

Medalla said he is hoping that the CoDM project will solve problems for businesses, financial institutions, and the public. Meanwhile, these automated CoDMs will allow customers to conveniently deposit coins and redeem their accumulated value from partner retail establishments through shopping vouchers or rewards card points.

Alternately, customers may opt to directly credit the amount to their participating bank accounts or electronic wallets, said the BSP.

The BSP currently produces seven coin denominations. These are the 1-sentimo, 5-sentimo, 25-sentimo, 1-piso, 5-piso, 10-piso and 20-piso. The 10-sentimo has been removed when the New Generation Currency coins were re-launched in 2018, but it was not demonetized.

The BSP has been calling for a strong law that will penalize coin hoarding in the country. In the absence of a law, the BSP utilizes its Coin Recirculation Program to encourage the public to refrain from unnecessarily accumulating coins.

Coin hoarding results in the inefficient circulation of coins and prevents their primary use as a medium of exchange. An artificial shortage of coins may also occur because of the common practice of keeping coins idle in bank vaults, drawers and piggy banks instead of re-circulating them.

As of mid-2021, there are some 36 billion coin pieces of varying denominations in circulation. The value of these coins amounts to P49.7 billion.

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