Recognizing the tremendous effect of cashless transactions on economic growth, electronic payments are being adopted globally at an outstanding pace. In the Philippines, in particular, BancNet continues to be at the forefront of the said adoption, driving the shift in payments from cash to cashless and making payment solutions accessible to as many Filipinos as possible.

As the country’s sole electronic payments network, BancNet has been facilitating interbank fund transfers and payment via debit to an ATM account for almost three decades now. Last year, the consortium of banks has taken on a new and bigger role by being part of the National Retail Payments System (NRPS), a program spearheaded by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), which promotes electronic payments in the country.

Early in 2017, the BSP identified two priority automated clearing houses to be created immediately as part of the NRPS framework: low-value, real-time credit push and batch electronic funds transfer. BancNet was designated as the clearing switch operator for the former, dubbed instaPay. It supports real-time crediting of funds from a sender’s bank or electronic money issuer account to another bank or electronic money issuer account.

As the clearing switch operator, BancNet has built and operates the technical infrastructure of instaPay, designed to be the fastest way to move money in the country as it interconnects several financial institutions nationwide.

Launched last April 23, instaPay is an electronic fund transfer service that allows customers to conveniently transfer funds anytime and anywhere between accounts of participating BSP-supervised banks and non-bank electronic money issuers, using a mobile phone, tablet or laptop to access their mobile apps and/or Internet banking sites.

instaPay can be used to pay people like plumbers, caterers, doctors, lawyers and other providers of goods and services, as well as to send money as allowances of children or parents, as rent to a landlord, or as help for a sick relative. The recipient instantly receives the money in full without any charges deducted.

The maximum amount that can be sent per transaction through instaPay is P50,000; however, multiple fund transfers can be done in a day. The sending fee may vary from bank to bank or electronic money issuer, but BancNet assured that the charge, regardless of the amount sent or where it is sent, is affordable.

Keeping data privacy in mind, instaPay is protected by strict data security standards required by the central bank. One of these is two-factor authentication which verifies, through a unique code known only to the sender, whether the sender is the owner of the account or not.

instaPay is expected to be a major contributor to the BSP’s goal to increase the country’s electronic payments to 20% by 2020.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR