DIGITAL PAYMENTS BOOSTED

The Monetary Board has approved the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap 2020-2023 which charts the BSP’s current initiatives and strategy in advancing an efficient, inclusive, safe and secure digital payments ecosystem.

The roadmap identifies two key strategic objectives. 

First, is the strengthening of customer preference for digital payments by converting 50% of the total volume of retail payments into digital form and expanding the number of the financially included to 70% of Filipino adults by onboarding them to the formal financial system through the use of payment or transaction accounts. 

The second is the availability of more innovative digital financial products and services designed to be responsive to the needs of consumers, enabled by a digital ID (Philippine Identification System or PhilSys), and supported by the availability of a next generation payment and settlement system to facilitate real-time processing of financial transactions.

Said objectives are strategically anchored on three critical pillars, which are envisaged to successfully transform the cash-heavy Philippine economy into a cash-lite economy.

The first is the development of digital payment streams (use cases) which will accelerate wider acceptance and use among individuals, businesses and the government. 

The second is the establishment of the necessary digital finance infrastructure to facilitate interoperability in the digital payments ecosystem, allowing providers to offer a wider array of affordable products and services. 

The third is the implementation of digital governance standards that will safeguard the integrity and privacy of consumer data, and ensure appropriate governance and regulation of digital products and services. 

The roadmap also recognized the broader challenges to the development of a digital payment ecosystem and financial inclusion, key among which is the state of access to and quality of internet connectivity. This challenge may be addressed by exploring the use of satellite communications technology in delivering internet connectivity to hard-to-reach rural places.

“Our thrust to promote digitalization of payments is also strategically geared towards furthering financial inclusion as we view the two to be mutually reinforcing: They go hand in hand, with each one enabling the other,” according to Dr. Benjamin E. Diokno, Chairman of the Monetary Board and Governor of the BSP.