The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said over the weekend its coin deposit machines (CoDMs) collected P888.7 million from 214,475 transactions.
Most CoDMs are located in shopping malls in Metro Manila to provide shoppers and guests a way to turn their idle coins into e-money or vouchers.
The project aims to encourage the public to deposit their coins to promote efficient recirculation of the coins in the country. This addresses the artificial shortage of coins in selected areas of the country and ensures that only fit and legal tender currency is available for public use.
The BSP has 25 CoDMs located in the Greater Manila Area. It teamed up with retailers including SM Store, Robinsons Supermarket and Festival Mall for the first phase of the project’s implementation.
The BSP said it would conduct an assessment a year after the launch to determine whether the project would be expanded to other regions and increase the number of machines.
The BSP CoDMs accept all denomination BSP coins and new generation currency (NGC) coins. However, mutilated and unfit coins will not pass the machines criteria and also reject demonetized coins and foreign currency coins.
The value of coins deposited can be credited to the depositor’s G-cash account or converted into a shopping voucher of the participating retailers.
The BSP and SM Store deployed the first of CoDM at SM Mall of Asia on June 20, 2023.
The machines would recirculate coins which are mostly left in piggy banks or drawers. It also aims to promote the use of digital payments which reduces the need for the BSP to print new money or produce more coins.
