METROPOLITAN Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank) and its thrift bank arm Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) have made online interbank fund transfers free starting Thursday (July 9), joining the ranks of monetary institutions which have waived their fees in keeping with the central bank’s push to lower digital transaction costs.
The 2 banks said all transfers done on their online channels via InstaPay and PESONet are actually freed from charge.
Metrobank said InstaPay transfers via the Metrobank app are limited to an aggregate amount of P100,000 day by day (as much as P50,000 per transaction), while users are allowed to send P200,000 per day via PESONet.
In February, the bank had lowered its InstaPay fee to P8 from P25, while PESONet transfers were charged P50.
Meanwhile, PSBank said interbank transfers via PSBank Mobile and Online are actually free.
Based on its website, PESONet transactions are limited to a complete of P200,000 day by day, while InstaPay transfers are capped at P50,000.
The bank previously imposed a P10 fee for InstaPay and P50 for PESONet transfers.
InstaPay and PESONet are automated clearing houses under the central bank’s National Retail Payment System framework.
InstaPay is a real-time electronic fund transfer facility for transactions as much as P50,000 and is usually used for retail activities, while PESONet caters to high-value transactions and should be regarded as an electronic alternative to paper-based checks as transfers are processed and settled in batches.
The fee waiver is aligned with latest Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) rules meant to lower retail digital transaction costs.
BSP Circular 1238 issued on June 17, which took effect on July 4, requires financial institutions like banks, e-wallets, and other payment service providers to adopt reasonable, fair, and market-based pricing for individual fund transfers.
Under the brand new rules, fees charged for person-to-person transactions between different institutions shouldn’t be materially different from charges for transfers inside the same entity, with the one allowable difference in pricing being the switch cost, or the fee charged by a clearing switch operator to process these off-us transfers.
It’s because providing on-us or intrabank fund transfer services, which most institutions already do without cost, use the identical infrastructure and systems and entail the identical operational costs as interbank transactions, with the switching or network fee being the one gap.
The BSP said lower transfer fees will improve the country’s digital payments system as these facilitate interoperability, which might boost usage.
The central bank wants digital payments to make up 60%-70% of the whole volume of retail payments by 2028 in keeping with the Philippine Development Plan. — Bettina V. Roc