Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas full force in transforming the country into a cash-lite economy.
Annoyed by electronic fund transfer fees? You’re not the only one and the country’s central bank is looking into what could be done to reduce such fees.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas wants banks and other financial entities, under its supervision, to waive service fees on electronic fund transfers. The effect is limited to personal transactions and micro, small, and medium businesses only.
A draft circular from the BSP is collecting comments from stakeholders that would bring down such fees to zero on person-to-person electronic money transfers and micro-merchant payments. Financial entities under BSP supervision have until October 11 to submit their feedback.
After the circular is approved, these financial groups must comply starting April 1, 2025, with the new rules.
However, the new rules include thresholds and as long as personal transactions meet them, the fee is waived. Here are some of the rules in the circular:
- BSP won’t collect fees from person-to-person digital money transfers if conducted as remittance or lending of funds for personal, family, or household purposes, and are not done in the usual business course.
- Sending funds via electronic channels will be considered a personal transaction, so long as digital fund transfers from an account don’t exceed 10 times per week.
- Beyond thresholds, transaction fees will be collected.
Fees for digital payments made to small businesses with monthly aggregate gross receipts of PHP 250,000 are planned to be waived as well.
What do you think?
