Digital “aguinaldo” for the holidays?
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is urging Filipinos to give digital cash gifts not only to promote financial inclusion but also as a safety measure amid the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.
“We encourage our countrymen to take advantage of the ease and safety provided by digital finance in sending their cash gifts during the holidays,” the BSP said.
The Central Bank said Filipinos who intend to give cash as “pamasko” as well as those who want to donate to charitable institutions can transmit money conveniently through a wide array of digital payment channels available in the country.
These include interbank fund transfers through InstaPay and PESONet, electronic money issuers that are more commonly known as e-wallets, and QR Ph, which entails code scanning and offers consumers faster, easier, and cheaper payment options.
QR Ph is based on the Europay-Mastercard-VISA (EMV) standard, the global standard for secure payments.
The giving of “e-aguinaldo” supports the BSP’s broader thrust to foster the wider adoption of digital payments, which promotes financial inclusion and the efficient flow of funds in the economy.
The BSP pursues this under its Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap, which aims to convert at least half of the total volume of retail payments into digital form and to onboard at least 70 percent of Filipino adults to the financial system through transaction account ownership by 2023.