The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Monday the rise of digital payment technologies will drive financial inclusion for unbanked Filipinos and small businesses.
BSP Deputy Governor Mamerto Tangonan credited the significant strides in digital payments to the implementation of the BSP’s 2020-2023 Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap (DPTR) with the support of its public and private sector partners.
Tangonan noted the exponential growth of the sector over the past decade. “In 2013, we started with a mere 1-percent share of digital to total retail payments. Fast forward to 2022, we saw a whopping 42.1-percent share in digital retail payments transactions. I believe we reached our 50-percent target by the end of 2023,” he said.
The impact of this continuing digital transformation is evident at the grassroots level, he said.
Tangonan said the Paleng-QR Ph Plus program is one of several digital payment initiatives by the BSP.
It also launched the Bills Pay Ph to unify the country’s fragmented bills payment system and allow users to pay their bills whether or not they have an account with their billers’ payment service provider.
The initiative aims to streamline financial processes and bridge the gap between those with and without access to financial services. Through these digital payment facilities, an even greater portion of the population can now actively participate in the formal economy.
The BSP is charting the next phase of the country’s digital journey under the 2024-2026 Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap.
